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RIVERSIDE TEXTBOOKS 
IN EDUCATION 

EDITED BY ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLET 

PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION 
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY 



DIVISION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION 

UNDER THE EDITORIAL DIRECTION 

OF ALEXANDER INGLIS 



PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 



THE JUNIOR HIGH 
SCHOOL 



BY 



THOMAS H. BRIGGS 

PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, TEACHERS COLLEGE 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 




HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO 



Cop w/ 2 



COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THOMAS H. BRIGGS 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



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CAMBRIDGE • MASSACHUSETTS 
PRINTED IN THE ^.S.A. 



4^ EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 






Every new movement in education, if it is to succeed at all, 
must pass through two critical stages of development before 
it can find its proper place. The first stage is that in which 
the new movement struggles for recognition by educators 
and by the public. The second stage is that in which ap- 
proval has been won, but actual practice is incomplete, and 
the character or status of the new movement is still to be 
established. The success or failure of the movement may 
be determined at either of these stages. 

There is abundant evidence that the junior-high-school 
movement has passed successfully the first stage of its devel- 
opment. Though little more than a decade has passed since 
its real beginning, it has met with general approval through- 
out the country. The question now is not so much whether 
the junior high school shall be recognized as a part of our 
public-school system, but what sort of a junior high school 
shall be established and what sort of an education shall be 
provided therein. Hundreds of junior high schools estab- 
lished in almost all parts of the country testify to the fact 
that the new institution has met with general approval. 
They also testify, however, to the fact that those responsible 
for the organization of junior high schools differ widely in 
their conceptions as to what such schools should be. 

The present is a time when the junior-high-school move- 
ment is in a very critical stage of its development. It is a 
time when the form of reorganization is found in hundreds 



M EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

of school systems, but the real reorganization attempted in 
but few. It is a time when there is danger of numerous 
junior high schools in name, but few in fact. It is a time 
when there is great need for clear orientation and for the 
recognition of educational standards which should obtain 
in the new type of school. It is of great importance that 
at this stage of its development a survey be made of the 
present status of the junior high school, defects and merits 
pointed out, and a constructive program suggested for its 
development. 

For this task no one is better qualified than Dr. Briggs, 
who has been among the leaders in the development of the 
junior high school from the beginning, but whose attitude 
toward the movement has always been that of the scientific 
student of education rather than that of the propagandist. 
In this volume he has presented the results of a careful and 
critical analysis of junior high schools throughout the coun- 
try, not on the basis of a priori theory, but on the basis of 
first-hand investigation. No one realizes better than he 
that the junior high school is at preseM an institution whose 
final character and status are still to be determined. It is 
in order that assistance may be given in the determination 
of the character and status of the junior high school that this 
volume has been written. 

Alexander Inglis 



PREFACE 

The long discussion of proposals for the reorganization 
of our secondary schools has now passed into concrete 
action. The arguments based on new educational theory, 
on changed and changing conditions in the United States, 
and on the increase in the number of pupils who continue 
in school beyond the elementary grades, have during the 
past decade been so fully accepted that the most remark- 
able change in the history of our education is now well 
under way. The purpose of this book is to present the 
facts, so far as they can be ascertained, concerning the 
newly established junior high schools, or intermediate 
schools, and at the same time to set forth a constructive 
program for the reorganization if it is to be educationally 
effective. 

The author has had the privilege of visiting personally 
more than sixty junior high schools, from Massachusetts 
to California and from Minnesota to Texas. The informa- 
tion thus obtained has been supplemented by a study of 
all available literature on the subject of reorganization, 
by questionnaire returns from many schools, and by con- 
ferences and correspondence with administrators, several 
hundred of whom have been students in his classes. In addi- 
tion, during the past five years he has had the practical ex- 
perience afforded him as educational adviser of the Speyer 
Experimental Junior High School, which is conducted 
jointly by the City of New York and Teachers College. 



viii PREFACE 

Acknowledgment is due and is gratefully made to the 
many people who have aided in this study, especially to 
those principals and superintendents who have courte- 
ously shown their schools, cheerfully submitted to cross- 
examination, patiently filled out a lengthy questionnaire, 
and generously answered letters of inquiry. It will not seem 
invidious to thank especially Principal Joseph K. Van 
Denburg and the teachers of the Speyer School for their 
cordial and constant cooperation and helpfulness. 

T. H. B. 

Teachers College 
Columbia University 



CONTENTS 

Chapter I. The Need of Reorganization of Schools . 1 

A. Criticisms of Public Schools as organized .... 1 

B. Elementary, Intermediate, and High-School Education de- 

fined . 20 

Chapter II. The Development of the Junior High 

School 29 

A. Historical Sketch . . 29 

B. Major Types of Conception 35 

C. Definitions 46 

D. Extent of the Junior High School Movement , . . 5Q 

Chapter III. Claims and Objections 65 

A. Claims for the Junior High School . . * , . 65 

B. Objections to the Junior High School 72 

Chapter IV. Organization 93 

A. Distribution of Grades and Affiliations 93 

B. Relation to Elementary Schools, i^ eluding Admission . 97 

C. Relation to the Senior High School 113 

Chapter V. Special Functions of the Junior High 

School 127 

A. Departmental Teaching 127 

B. Individual Differences 133 

C. Promotions 152 

Chapter VI. Curricula and Courses of Study . , .155 

Chapter VII. Methods of Teaching 200 

A. Supervised Study 203 

B. Home Study 206 

C. Project Teaching and Socialized Recitation .... 207 

D. Textbooks 208 



% CONTENTS 

Chapter VIII. Teachers and Salaries . . . • . 210 

Chapter IX. The Administration of the Schedule and 

OF Class Units 238 

A. Length of Period, of Day, and of Week .... 238 

B. Size of Classes , 242 

Chapter X. Social Organization and Control . , . 245 

Chapter XI. Buildings and Grounds 270 

Chapter Xn, Costs . . . . . 279 

Chapter Xni. Results 303 

Chapter XIV. In Conclusion 822 

Bibliography . 329 

In;2)£x 349 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

CHAPTER I 

THE NEED OF REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS 

A. Criticisms of Public Schools as organized 
Unlike any other country, the United States has for all 
children a single system of pubKc schools, free and gener- 
ally accessible. In the larger part of the country elemen- 
tary education continues for eight years, though in the 
South it has only seven grades and in parts of New England 
it still has nine. On these several bases there have been 
superposed four-year secondary schools remarkably alike in 
organization and curriculum, whatever the previous prepa- 
ration or the future needs of the pupils. There are many high 
schools with shorter courses, but as a rule they offer one, 
two, or three years of the regular program of studies; and 
during the past decade or two a few communities have ex- 
tended their offerings so as to include two years of college 
work. 

The causes of the " eight-four " organization, toward 
which the country has been tending, are not clear, the his- 
tories of education being for the most part silent on the 
topic. Astounding though it may be, the usual distribu- 
tion of time to elementary and to secondary education is 
not the result of careful definition of the functions of the two 
types of schools based on the needs in a new democracy. 
Whatever may have been the influences on administrators 



2 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

here and there, the assignment of time to elementary and 
to secondary education is the result of a fortuitous com- 
promise between two unfortunately contending organiza- 
tions which were inherited from Europe. Moreover, one 
searches in vain the current literature for any generally 
accepted and useful definition of elementary and secondary 
education in America to-day or for a similarly approved 
statement of their purposes. 

The similarity of practice in elementary schools the coun- 
try over would argue that there is at least a tacit agreement 
as to purposes and functions, but research shows that usually 
such changes as have been made are for some reason insti- 
tuted in certain schools and then widely copied without 
being attributed to definitely stated and generally approved 
fundamental principles. The betterment of practice has, 
however, been proceeding steadily, and as the purposes of 
common education are relatively simple, still further prog- 
ress may be confidently expected from individual experi- 
mentation and subsequent imitation by those who approve 
of the results. 

In secondary education the problem is much more com- 
plex; and despite the general similarity of traditional offer- 
ings, there are in many sporadic instances wide divergences 
from the common practice — divergences due, however, 
more to the sympathies and vision of individual school- 
men than to convincing principles clearly presented. It is 
safe to say that such basic principles as have been proposed 
are not yet assimilated by those chiefly responsible for di- 
recting secondary schools. A beautiful, even if somewhat 
blind, belief in "education " has resulted during the past 



THE NEED OF BEORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS 3 

quarter-century in a tremendous increase in the number of 
pubKc high schools from Maine to Cahfornia; but with the 
changes that have come in our social and industrial Hfe and 
with the unparalleled increase in the number and kinds of 
children continuing and able to continue beyond the ele- 
mentary grades, the high schools face the necessity of even 
more highly differentiated curricula than they now offer. 
This recognized need, with its necessary increase in the an- 
nual budget, demands as never before an educational pro- 
gram that will direct the expansion toward the desired goal. 

In addition to the indefiniteness of function and of pur- 
pose, the public high school has developed apart from the 
elementary grades and often in ignorance of their practices 
and achievements. Although demanding the completion of 
the grades as a condition of entrance, the high school has 
infrequently built its program on that of the elementary 
school. 

Due largely to these conditions, with the increased popu- 
lar interest in schools and with the earnest, systematic 
study of education, there has come a flood of criticisms of 
our organization. A part of these criticisms has come from 
the pubHc as it has been imable to keep in the high schools 
its children, who have neither succeeded nor been satisfied 
with the traditional offerings, and as it has felt disappoint- 
ment with the product of the four-year curriculum. A more 
constructive part has come from the steadily increasing 
number of professional men and women who, alarmed no 
less by the inelastic curriculum than by the ehmination 
from school, have sought to find causes and remedies. In 
order that they may be conveniently examined and con- 



4 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

sidered, the arguments against our eight-four school organi- 
zation have been collated and are presented in the remainder 
of this chapter. It is impossible to give here the complete 
argument for and against the validity of each criticism, but 
a running commentary will indicate at least some of the 
evidence and assumptions that must be considered before 
a conclusion can be reached. 

Criticism I. The eight-four organization is not justified 
by (a) psychology, (6) comparative education, (c) historical 
development, or (d) results. 

The first of these detailed criticisms is partly based on the 
assumption that adolescence is saltatory, that all children 
reach it at approximately the same time, and that it brings 
generally characteristics that necessitate peculiar treat- 
ment, preferably with the group of adolescents segregated. 
The monumental work of G. Stanley Hall, more frequently 
cited than carefully read, is most responsible for these 
assumptions. It has been convincingly shown by Inglis,^ 
however, that adolescence comes gradually, and by Cramp- 
ton and others that it may begin as early as the ninth year 
or as late as the sixteenth. This evidence does not invali- 
date the charge; but it helps to focus the attention on the 
peculiar characteristics of boys and girls generally of from 
twelve to sixteen and to ask what differences in school prac- 
tice, if any, should be introduced because of them. The 
excellent summary by Whipple ^ presents the facts in tk, 
case. There is by practically every experienced teacher 
some adaptation of work to the characteristics of pupils; 

^ Principles of Secondary Education, chaps, i, ii. 

2 Chapter vii of Monroe's Principles of Secondary Educatiou, 



THE NEED OF REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS 5 

but so far as is known, there has been no systematic at- 
tempt, in junior high school or in the older organizations, 
to adapt subject-matter, method, and discipline consistently 
to meet any large number of the peculiarities enumerated. 
Some such attempt, however, should be made. The assump- 
tion that pupils in early adolescence should be segregated 
both from the younger and from the older children is ac- 
cepted by many, their arguments being that the early adoles- 
cents need an education, especially in social control, essen- 
tially different from that successful with others, and that 
while unwisely imitating the older' pupils, they are a bad in- 
fluence on the younger ones. It is in varying degrees denied 
by other schoolmen. As will be shown later, however, ^ the 
testimony of junior-high-school principals and teachers is 
that discipHne is generally easier when the intermediate 
grades are segregated. 

The criticism concerning comparative education must be 
accepted. The United States is the only country in the 
world that has the eight-four organization. It does not 
follow, however, that it is bad for our Republic with its pe- 
culiar democratic ideals and economic conditions. Whether 
or not one condemns the common American organization 
because of the different plans of other civilized countries 
will depend largely on his acceptance of one or the other of 
the fundamental programs presented in a later chapter. ^ 
Inasmuch as nations are alike in more respects than they are 
different, it is probable, however, that there is much that we 
can profitably learn from European educational systems. 
_ The third detail in this criticism, that the eight-four 
1 Page 246-48. 2 Chapter n. 



6 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

organization is not justified by historical development, is, 
because of our ignorance of the potency of several influences 
on the development of our school system, difficult to consider. 
It has been argued that our eight-year elementary school 
has developed from Prussian influence, which provides for 
the children of the lowly a restricted education terminating 
about the time of confirmation by the several religious sects, 
and that on this foreign type of school we have superim- 
posed a secondary school for those who may elect it. This 
argument is flatly contradicted, however, by the most fully 
informed of our historians of education. It seems more 
likely that the eight-four organization is partly an histori- 
cal accident, a sort of compromise between the early con- 
tending elementary and secondary schools. The former, 
as is well known, existed with any number of " grades " up 
to twelve, and the latter, as in Europe, often ran down in 
preparatory work as low as primary classes. Gradually, as 
the two types were combined, there resulted what we now 
have. Certainly there is no evidence that at any time be- 
fore the present there has been any widespread effort to 
consider the needs of children and the demands of the nation 
in such a way as logically or scientifically to determine the 
length of either the elementary or the secondary school 
course. Hence the problem on this count is not prejudged 
by existing conditions. The junior high school must de- 
velop or be discarded for other reasons than those historical. 
The last of the four details in this criticism, that the eight- 
four organization is not justified by results, is not sufficiently 
specific to be adjudged. All that its proponents mean is 
probably included in the following charges. Although such 



THE NEED OF REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS 7 

an indefinite detail often finds sympathetic reception in the 
general dissatisfaction of the human mind with anything 
less than the ideal, it does not afford material assistance to 
those who would analyze the problem and attempt to solve it. 
Criticism H. Isolated and small grammar schools are un- 
economical in that 

(a) the plant, if equipped with special rooms (shops, 
laboratories, auditorium, gymnasium, and library), 
is not fully used; 

(b) special teachers and supervisors in going from build- 
ing to building lose much time; 

(c) upper classes are frequently not filled; 

{d) they do not permit of differentiated curricula, depart- 
mental teaching, and promotion by subject. 

All of these details are soundly based. Only in the larger 
elementary schools is it possible to erect and equip a build- 
ing with the special rooms generally admitted as desirable 
in the education of pupils in the upper grades; and even in 
an eight-year school of twelve hundred registration, there 
will be approximately only eighty-one pupils in the seventh 
grade and seventy-seven in the eighth, obviously too few 
to use the shops, laboratories, and other special rooms 
continuously. 

Special teachers and supervisors of industrial work — mu- 
sic, drawing, physical training, and the like — can fre- 
quently do all the work assigned for an individual building 
in part of a session. The time required for travel to another 
building in a different, and sometimes a remote, part of the 
city is a dead loss. Such a condition in Cleveland was one 
of the cogent reasons for the establishment of junior high 



8 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

schools there. When a suflScient number of similarly graded 
pupils are congregated in one building, these special teach' 
ers can be occupied there for the entire time, or at least for 
one or more entire days a week. 

When for purposes of economy or of educational advan- 
tage it is decided to have classes of approximately a cer- 
tain size — say thirty-eight — a superintendent is dis- 
turbed by the problem of groups of twelve or of fifty in an 
upper grade. If he cannot conveniently transfer some of 
these pupils to another school, he faces the alternative of 
an increased per capita cost or of an educationally undesir- 
able number in one class. In Waterloo, Iowa, for example, 
the seventh- and eighth-grade pupils in 1917-18 were dis- 
tributed among six buildings as follows: 

Building VII VIII 

A 73 95 

B 26 

C 49 69 

D 11 

E 18 

F 56 42 

A study of this distribution will show how awkward the 
situation is; of course material differentiation in any one 
school is out of the question. Were these pupils congregated 
into one building, there would be 233 in the seventh grade 
and 206 in the eighth — numbers that may be divided 
fairly evenly into five or six classes of normal size. Each 
of these five or six classes, in turn, could be directed toward 
such work as meets the needs or abilities of its children. By 
sending all of these pupils to a central junior high school, 
the superintendent would have a total number which. 



THE NEED OF REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS 9 

wJiether differentiated courses were offered or not, could be 
divided by the normal class size with a minimum of varia- 
tion. It follows as a matter of course that only in schools 
of considerable size can differentiated curricula be offered. 
The best that can be done in small schools is the offering of 
an exploratory curriculum worth while for all pupils to the 
extent that it is pursued, or else a specialized curriculum 
suited to the majority of pupils and directed by local needs. 

Similarly it follows that departmental teaching and 
promotion by subject are practicable only in schools of 
considerable size. These facts being true, the validity of 
this second criticism depends, of course, on the desirability 
of differentiation, departmental teaching, and promotion by 
subject — topics that will be discussed somewhat fully 
later. 

Criticism III. The costly building and equipment of the 
high school are unnecessary for the adequate training of 
ninth-grade pupils. 

This depends on the course necessary for the satisfactory 
education of the ninth-grade pupil and on the relative 
equipment and cost of the junior- and the senior- high-school 
buildings. In Philadelphia, according to Assistant Super- 
intendent Wheeler,^ the newest high-school buildings cost 
in 1917 $520 per pupil, the newest elementary-school build- 
ings, containing all equipment used in the present ninth- 
grade work, $320. There are abundant other data sup- 
porting this point. 

Criticism IV. The work of the elementary school does 
not prepare for life activities. 

1 Old Penn Weekly, 13, 1007. 



10 THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 

(a) There is an indefensible justification of subject- 
matter by ideas of general transfer and of discipline. 

Tke discussion of general transfer of training is apparently 
not ended, but from it has come a general disbelief in the old 
faith that power developed in one field automatically and 
inevitably is exercised in all other fields, a faith that underlay 
almost the entire procedure of the schools before this cen- 
tury. In spite of the admirable work done by many school 
systems, by writers of textbooks, and especially by the 
Committee on Minimum Essentials of the National Society 
for the Study of Education, ^ there are in our courses of study 
many relics of the discredited psychology. The faith that 
"^discipline " of the mind or of the spirit is secured by work 
that is distasteful also finds few defenders to-day. Prag- 
matic belief in it is disproved by the fact that scarcely any 
one seeks for himself mental and spiritual growth by con- 
tinuing in adult life tasks that are justified only by their re- 
pugnance. And yet many elements of courses apparently 
introduced for this purpose also still persist. To this ex- 
tent, then, the criticism may be accepted. It is another 
matter whether or not a new school organization will en- 
tirely or even to a greater degree discard these foundations 
of practice. It is generally admitted, however, that the older 
organization is not making as rapidly as is desirable curricu- 
lum changes consonant with principles that are now accepted. 

(b) There is endless repetition of what has been offered 
before and will be again, and there are wearisome, 
wasteful, and futile reviews. 

1 See Part i of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Year-BooJcs of 
The National Society for the Study of Education, 



THE NEED OF REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS 11 

This charge has been repeatedly made, but a search re- 
veals little supporting evidence that has been adduced. 
Hill ^ declares, after examining 169 courses of study of rep- 
resentative schools, that about 40 per cent of the work 
outlined for the seventh and eight grades is review. He 
concludes: " Some review work is necessary, but to argue 
that this amount ... is needed in these grades is a sad 
commentary on the work of the lower grades. It deprives 
them of their purpose and discredits the ability of the pupils 
and their teachers." But inasmuch as the charge overlooks 
the values claimed for a " special method " of presentation, 
certainly judgment must be suspended. Much more evi- 
dence on the subject is needed. It should be noted that 
the statement of this charge begs the question: every one 
will agree that endless repetition and futile reviews are un- 
necessary. 

(c) There is too much symbolic work and too httle of 
substantial activity. 

The first part of this criticism of the elementary school is 
supported by numerous studies of such subjects as gram- 
mar, arithmetic, history, and geography, and by practically 
all progressive courses of study and new textbooks; the 
second part is generally approved by educational theorists 
and by the tendencies of schools that are making any marked 
changes from old practices. Substantial activities of va- 
rious kinds are to varying degrees secured in most con- 
temporary grammar grades, and the amount of symbolic 
work is reduced and deferred to the high school or college. 

* Bulletin of the Springfield, Missouri, State Normal School, October, 
1915. 



12 THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 

The acquiring of tools of education is, in theory at least, 
merged in education itself. To the extent that the indict- 
ment is true of schools of to-day it should stimulate ac- 
tivity toward some sort of reform. 

Criticism V. The work of the elementary school does not 
satisfactorily prepare for higher schools. 

This criticism is supported by the fact that much, prob- 
ably most, of the work in the upper grades of the elementary 
schools bears no relation in the minds of either teachers or 
pupils to the subjects normally imdertaken in the ninth year. 
The sharp difference is greatest in subject-matter, but it is 
apparent also in methods of teaching and of study, in disci- 
pline, and in the personal relations between teachers and 
pupils. In these latter respects there is, of course, much 
variation in the practice of schools; the sharpest difference is 
usually in the largest high schools where the work is most 
fully departmentalized. The result of these differences is 
manifest, it is charged, in the increased percentage of fail- 
ures and eliminations from school during and at the end of 
the ninth grade. The figures are startling enough. 

The question naturally arises as to the extent to which 
these deplorable results are inevitable in the eight-four or- 
ganization. Can they be prevented in it, or in any other 
distribution of grades, by better administration? On this 
point there exist no adequate data. There are systems of 
schools in which separate four-year high schools retain a 
normal proportion of their entrants at least into the second 
year of their course; but observation has led to the conclu- 
sion that this desired result is usually due more to the tra- 
ditions and wealth of the community than to any fully de- 



THE NEED OF REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS IS 

veloped administrative plan. There is need of a widespread 
and careful study of the means by which these occasional 
high schools are successful. In the meantime each super- 
intendent should frankly face the question as to what kind 
and amount of modification of the content of courses, of the 
methods of instruction, and of the program for personal 
control of pupils is desired in both the grammar grades and 
in the high schools. It is a lamentable condition, and one 
easily remedied if a superintendent sets himself to the task, 
that many principals and teachers are to a very small extent 
informed of the work and of the definite aims of the proxi- 
mate grades, either above or below. 

Certainly the percentage of failure and of elimination 
during and at the end of the first year of high school is 
greater than anywhere else in the system. Secondary- 
school teachers attribute this to inadequate preparation of 
the pupils for their work by the elementary school. So far 
as conditions leading to these results are irremediable in 
the present organization, they point to a continuous one- 
twelve school or to the interposition of a jimior high 
school that will be definitely an intermediary between the 
miified work of the elementary grades and the increasingly 
differentiated coiu*ses of secondary education. 

Criticism VI. The progress of pupils in the grammar 
grades is not marked as in other periods in school life. 

This charge may be true, but under present conditions it 
is impossible to substantiate it. It may be shown that pupils 
in many schools do not as measured by standarized tests 
manifest as much improvement in spelling, penmanship, and 
other such subjects in the grammar grades as they do ear- 



14 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

lier; neither do men increase in height as much at the age 
of twenty-five as they did in one year of early adolescence. 
// it be assumed that there should be throughout the school 
system the same rate of progress in subjects that are con- 
tinued, the change may be proved; but there is no method, 
except the highly unreliable one of using personal impression, 
by which one may compare the progress in introductory 
science with that in primary reading or even with that in ad- 
vanced chemistry. Until such a method is found, if ever it 
be, the satisfactoriness of progress must be evaluated by 
one or more competent judges in terms of the purposes de- 
finitely accepted for the unit considered. It seems, there- 
fore, that this criticism may be laid aside without further 
consideration. 

Criticism VII. In early adolescence pupils do not get the 
needed influence of teachers of both sexes. 

Reports of the United States Commissioner of Educa- 
tion show that there is a constantly decreasing proportion 
of upper-grade teachers who are men. In 1879-80 of all 
teachers in elementary schools 42.8 were men; since then 
the percentage has steadily fallen until in 1917-18 it was 
only 13.4, and without doubt it is still decreasing. In 
pubhc high schools the percentage of men teachers rose 
from 40.0 in 1889-90, the first year for which data are 
procurable,* to 49.9 in 1899-1900, since when it has fallen 
as shown in Figure 1. The decrease is generally consid- 
ered as due to the fact that men can make more money at 
other kinds of work, and that elementary teaching is wo- 

* All data are taken from the Reports of the United States Commis- 
doner of Education. 



THE NEED OF REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS 15 



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men's work. In the criticism there is no implication that 
men are better teachers than women; the assumption is that 
there is a need for the ex- 
ample and influence of both 
men and women on boys 
and girls who are tend- 
ing to set their ideals and 
attitudes toward many mat- 
ters of life. Exactly what 
the value expected is, no 
one knows; and our knowl- 
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sex is too limited to permit 
of any confident answer. It 
is probable that the quali- 
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are much more charac- 
teristic of an individual than of a sex. This does not dis- 
prove, however, the generally accepted desirability of hav- 
ing both men and women teachers of high quality for pupils 
of early adolescence. Later it will be shown that in junior 
high schools the proportion of men teachers is somewhat 
increased over that in the same grades of the old organ- 
ization. 

Criticism VIII. Elementary or childish methods of teach- 
ing are too long continued and too suddenly changed. 

There seems to be a tendency of all teachers who are 
interested in their pupils to adapt the method of instruction 
directly to the particular group of boys and girls constitut- 
ing a class. This tendency being strong among teachers 



Figure 1. Showing per cents of 
Men Teachers in Elementary 
Schools and in High Schools 1880 
TO 1919. 



16 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

not wholly absorbed in self or in subject-matter, it prob- 
ably follows that the criticism is based quite as much on the 
frequent observation of teaching that is not adapted to the 
needs of all the pupils in a poorly graded class as on the in- 
fluence of younger pupils on the teacher. However, in a de- 
partmental organization the influence of younger or of older 
pupils may be strong on a teacher as he moves from one 
group to another, and it is only trite to say that adults 
manifest a peculiar unwillingness to recognize and provide 
for the strengthening demand on the part of adolescents 
for self-direction. The charge of an abrupt change of 
method in the high school is generally admitted as being 
true for a significant proportion of the teachers. There 
can scarcely be any dissent from the implication that 
changes in method should be gradual. There exist only 
inadequate evidence and personal opinion to indicate to 
what extent the admitted facts are harmful. 

Criticism IX. The eight-four organization makes inade- 
quate provision for the varying needs of pupils due to in- 
dividual differences 

(o) of ability and aptitude; 

(6) of sex; 

(c) of probable career: 

(1) educational; 

(2) vocational. 

To substantiate this charge, its proponents must make 
clear that there are in pupils significant differences in the 
various respects, and that these differences demand for the 
pupils' best development differentiated educational pro- 
grams. To find convincing evidence of surprising and in 



THE NEED OF REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS 17 

some cases even astounding ranges of ability in groups usu- 
ally considered homogeneous, one has only to refer to any of 
numerous recent studies in the field. ^ It is easy for the pro- 
ponents to show these facts; it is difficult for them to sup- 
port so as to convert their opponents the assumption that 
these differences necessitate in grammar grades differen- 
tiated work. If the assumption is admitted, as it probably 
must be, the criticism is upheld, for, as is shown else- 
where, even the beginning of differentiation is impossible 
in the usual elementary school. 

Mutatis mutandisy a similar situation exists regarding the 
other two details of the criticism. There is some denial of 
the statement that in early adolescence boys and girls ad- 
vance more satisfactorily if segregated in certain subjects; 
but on the whole the evidence tends to prove it. More and 
better experimentation is needed before a conclusion can 
be confidently accepted. In the other case, it is denied that 
the school can, when a pupil is twelve or fourteen, tell what 
sort of vocation he will follow; and that, even if it can, dif- 
ferentiated work should be offered before the senior high 
school. Opinion on this detail will be controlled by the edu- 
cational ideal accepted for the junior high school.^ Those 
who believe in early differentiation contend that although 
mistakes will inevitably be made by pupils in the election 
of curricula, they may later be rectified, and that the mis- 
takes are far outnumbered by the successes. Much more 
evidence than has been published is needed. 

^ For a succinct and sound summary of some facts about individual dif- 
ferences, see Thorndike's Individuality. 

2 See chapter ii and Briggs: "What Is a Junior High School?" EdiLca^ 
tional Advtinistration and Supervision, vol. 5, pp. 283-302. 



18 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

Criticism X. The eight-four organization causes an un- 
necessary and unjustifiable ehmination, because 

(a) the break between the lower and the upper schools 
is too sharp; and 

(b) it comes at the wrong time. 

The amount of elimination from all our schools between 
the end of the sixth grade and the beginning of the tenth is, 
roughly speaking, about seventy pupils of every hundred. 
The losses during and at the end of grades 7, 8, and 9 have 
been the greatest, partly because pupils in these grades usu- 
ally complete the age of compulsory attendance at school, 
and partly, it is charged, because of the poor articulation 
between the elementary and the secondary schools. The 
break between the two parts of the system is emphasized 
by a marked change in the subjects of study, the organiza- 
tion, the methods of teaching, the discipline, and frequently 
the atmosphere of the school. A pupil who has " finished " 
arithmetic, grammar, and the other elementary subjects, 
imder perhaps a single teacher keeping a close watch over 
him as an individual, may, it is charged, be so reluctant to 
enter a distant and strange building, undertake new and 
strange subjects, under several strange teachers, that he 
finds an easy excuse for dropping out. The "completion " 
of elementary education is often emphasized, too, by gradua- 
tion exercises. Thus it is seen that there is no uncertainty of 
the sharpness of the break. More than this, it does come 
usually about the time when the law releases pupils from 
compulsory school attendance; so that having completed one 
unit of work and not being compelled to undertake another, 
the pupil of uncertain purpose and ambition finds it easy to 



THE NEED OF REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS 19 

drop out of school. There is considerable evidence show- 
ing that if a pupil before being released by the law has en- 
tered upon secondary-school work, he tends to persist some- 
what longer than if still in the elementary school. This 
criticism, then, seems well supported. 

Ctiticism XI. There is inadequate provision for personal 
guidance or direction — social, educational, and vocational 
— either in the elementary or in the high school. 

It is obvious that provision for such guidance varies greatly 
in different school systems and even in different schools of 
the same system. But there will be little question that in the 
light of the recent enlargement of the conception of educa- 
tion and the emphasis on the importance of the individual, 
more personal guidance than generally found is needed. By 
and large, the pupil in the elementary school gets more 
personal attention than he does later, but his teachers are 
frequently too uninformed of the program of the high school 
to afford the educational guidance that he needs at promo- 
tion, and vocational guidance has in few places satisfied 
the hopes and expectations with which it is usually hailed. 
It is believed that this criticism is for the country at large 
very generally justified. 

A review of this summary will show that most of the criti- 
cisms are reasonably well justified — so well, at least, that 
even after recounting all of the credits that justly belong to 
our schools, an impartial critic is willing to consider any 
plan that is likely to afford at a reasonable cost a remedy 
for all or for any of the weaknesses enumerated. The ques- 
tion very naturally follows, however, as to which weak- 



20 THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 

nesses are inherent in the eight-four organization and 
which are merely incidental thereto. A further review will 
show that although no one can cogently contend that 
merely because the organization exists it is best, only a few 
of the criticisms — the second, fourth, and tenth — are of 
conditions inherent in an eight-four organization. But it 
is argued that in a new organization all changes can be 
more easily made than in an old one. There are no tradi- 
tions among pupils, teachers, or public as to what the 
junior high school should do, and the very fact that it is a 
new type of educational institution invites any changes 
that can be made to appear reasonable. Certainly one who 
visits junior high schools will find in them a readiness, even 
an eagerness, to try new programs that promise advantages 
to boys and girls of early adolescence. 

It remains to consider the reasonableness of the junior- 
high-school program, the extent to which it can remedy ad- 
mitted defects, and the success that has attended the schools 
so far established. These matters will be considered in sub- 
sequent chapters. 

B. Elementary, Intermediate, and High-School 
Education defined 

The purpose of the remainder of this chapter is to present 
some fundamental facts and assumptions and on them to 
build statements of purposes that will delimit the fields 
of elementaiy, intermediate, and high-school education. 
Emphasis will of course be laid on the definition and pur- 
poses of the intermediate, or junior high school. 

In such an organization of education as exists, or as will 



THE NEED OF REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS 31 

exist, in the United States, the most important pmposes 
of the elementary school are conceived to be: first, to 
furnish the common training necessary for all children 
" regardless of sex, social status, or future vocation "; and, 
second, by means of this common training to integrate the 
future citizens of our democracy. 

The former of these two purposes, though seldom explicitly 
stated, is increasingly influencing the program of elementary 
schools. Permitting variation in accord with local condi- 
tions or with mental endowment of individual children, it 
demands the searching-out and inclusion in the unified 
courses of study of those facts, skills, and attitudes that are 
and will continue to be needed by each and every individual 
in a community. Each successive report of important com- 
mittees on courses of study, immediately reflected by pro- 
gressive textbooks if not anticipated by them, has in the 
recent past based its recommendations, either tacitly or ex- 
pHcitly, on this principle. In consequence we have during 
the past generation seen the exclusion from elementary 
courses of many details of arithmetic, grammar, history, and 
geography that are, or may be, of value only to those pupils 
who continue their education beyond the point to which all 
are expected to progress. Similarly we have seen the inclu- 
sion of new elements and even of new subjects that are 
believed to be essential to adequate living by each partici- 
pant in our social, industrial, and political life. 

The second of the major purposes of the elementary 
school, to integrate the future citizens of a democracy, has 
been from time to time presented by educational theorists; ^ 
* Inglis: Principles of Secondary Education^ chapters iii, ix. 



22 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

but until the discussions of national aspirations subsequent 
to and during the World War it has never received from 
course-makers the serious consideration that it deserves. 
Additional emphasis has been given to this function of the 
common school by the conflicts apparently growing at pres- 
ent between different social and economic classes, each 
having inadequate understanding sympathetically to com- 
prehend the position and the contention of the others. It 
is argued that only if there exists a large body of common 
facts, resulting in common ideals and prejudices, may a 
democracy continue to be successful. Certainly men are 
bound together in proportion as they have common ends and 
a comprehension of the complex means necessary for their 
achievement. 

Beyond the commonly useful and integrating education 
there develop programs differentiated according to the ca- 
pacities, the aptitudes, the interests, and the common needs 
of individual pupils. Common training is relinquished more 
or less slowly, it is true; but ultimately those who remain in 
school are increasingly segregated according to the specialized 
ends that they seek and their varying abilities to achieve 
them. The period in which differentiation begins and grows 
toward complete separation is that of secondary education. 

How long a common, integrating education should continue 
no one can with assurance say. Theoretically it should not 
cease until the desired ends are reasonably achieved; but 
in practice it varies greatly in length and in effectiveness. 
As already pointed out, our elementary schools continue 
for from seven to nine years in different parts of the country; 
and the subsequent secondary curriculum in the majority 



THE NEED OF REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS 23 

of high schools as yet offers very little differentiation, and 
that inadequately adapted to the diverse needs of all youth. 
The result is that the high schools, by and large, do not 
furnish, nor do they profess to furnish, training that has a 
common utility to all, regardless of social status or future 
vocation, and that integration very largely ceases because 
of the tremendous elimination of pupils who find the con- 
ventional offerings ill-adapted to their capacities, aptitudes, 
interests, or probable needs. In practice, also, the success of 
an education that should result in facts and skills of com- 
mon utihty and in integration is conditioned by such vary- 
ing factors as the length of the school year, the worth of 
courses of study, the amount of training, the experience, and 
the skill of teachers, the effectiveness of supervision, the def- 
initeness with which worthy purposes are conceived, and the 
adequacy of the physical plant and equipment. As a re- 
sult of such varying factors we necessarily have astoundingly 
different results from elementary schools, not only in sepa- 
rated sections of the country, but also in urban and 
rural districts of the same communities and even in con- 
tiguous school districts. This situation argues cogently 
for the equalization of educational opportunity, not only 
for the sake of individual pupils, but even more for social 
unity and the consequent welfare of the nation. 

Ideally, then, elementary education of the kind defined 
should continue until its two chief purposes are satisfied. 
But there are at present other factors determining its upper 
Hmit. First of these are the compulsory education laws, 
which usually prescribe school attendance until a child has 
completed at least his fourteenth year. Until the laws 



24 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

are changed and effectively administered, therefore, no 
education, however wisely planned, can be generally ef- 
fective for more than eight grades. A second factor is the 
assumption that if the two desired ends were reasonably 
achieved by the schools of a generation ago in eight years, 
the modem elementary school, with its better plant, teach- 
ers, supervision, courses, textbooks, and organization, can 
assure as good results in a somewhat shorter period. A third 
factor is the assumption that because of assured and inevit- 
able individual differences of various kinds, pupils should, 
while the law still holds them in school, be given some sys- 
tematic and intelHgent guidance toward their future careers 
and at least started on suitable differentiated training. 
These three factors limit the elementary school under exist- 
ing conditions to approximately six years. 

As the end of the period of elementary compulsory educa- 
tion approaches, the school finds three more or less distinct 
groups of pupils for which it must provide: (1) those who 
can, and in all probability will, persist at least through the 
period of secondary education; (2) those who intend to leave 
school and enter upon work at, or shortly after, the age when 
the law releases them from compulsory attendance; and 
(3) those whose length of stay in school is for one reason 
or another highly uncertain. 

If these three groups were sharply and permanently de- 
fined, as they have been in certain foreign countries, the 
problem of differentiated education would be relatively 
simple. For all pupils the school would seek the main 
objectives of education ^ (health, command of the funda- 
^ United States Bureau of Education Bulletin 35, 1918. 



THE NEED OF REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS 25 

mental processes, worthy home-membership, vocation, citi- 
zenship, the worthy use of leisure, and ethical character), 
giving to them special emphasis for the second and third 
groups of pupils in that there is no assurance that they will 
get any further instruction to aid them in complete living. 
For the first group the school would attempt especially to 
enrich the curriculum and to accelerate the progress; for 
the second it would advise concerning suitable vocations and 
prepare each pupil somewhat for the one chosen; and for the 
third, by work of convincing worth it would endeavor to 
retain each pupil in school as long as it seems profitable to 
him and to the State, and so to organize the work as to make 
it of the maximum advantage to the extent that it may be 
pursued. Even if the groups were sharply divided, there 
would be, of course, some common subject-matter. 

But in a democracy with such traditions as ours, actively 
demanding that each individual have the right to seek the 
career which he may elect and that no course be so closed as 
to prevent a transfer to some other which may later prove at- 
tractive, the problem is much more complex. Compliance 
with these demands has resulted in much profitless work 
by pupils : in some instances they sample in the high school 
one curriculum after another, finally leaving in large num- 
bers with no satisfactory training for the demands either of 
social or of industrial life; in others, influenced by impos- 
sible ambitions or by matters of small educational import, 
they insist on pursuing studies for which their teachers be- 
lieve them ill-adapted and in which they have a minimum 
amount of success. The prejudgment by teachers is proved 
erroneous, however, in a sufficiently large proportion of cases 



26 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

to make every one chary of placing the decision at the end 
of elementary education entirely in their hands. 

What program, then, is forced upon the schools by this 
combination of principles and facts? Clearly an intermedi- 
ate period of education, beginning one or two years before 
the law releases any pupil from study, an intermediate period 
in which the schools shall attempt at least five things: first, to 
continue, in so far as it may seem wise and possible, and in 
a gradually diminishing degree, common, integrating edu- 
cation; second, to ascertain and reasonably to satisfy pupils* 
important immediate and assured future needs; third, to 
explore by means of material in itself worth while the inter- 
ests, aptitudes, and capacities of pupils; fourth, to reveal to 
them, by material otherwise justifiable, the possibilities in 
the major fields of learning; and, fifth, to start each pupil 
on the career which, as a result of the exploratory courses, 
he, his parents, and the school are convinced is most likely 
to be of profit to him and to the State. When these ends 
have been accomplished, the law may release pupils from 
compulsory attendance at regular day schools; sufficient 
information has been gained to make the election of future 
study not only intelligent, but also attractive, and each 
type of higher school or curriculum will receive the pupils 
for which it was established. 

This, in general, is the program that is proposed for in- 
termediate schools, the program in terms of which the facts 
concerning such schools as have been established will be 
presented and criticized. It is not assumed that a sudden 
reorganization of schools on the principles outlined is either 
possible or probable. The program is presented, however. 



THE NEED OF REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS 27 

as one that will clarify issues and make more profitable 
the discussion of details that may make for or against the 
functions proposed; it should, therefore, guide in planning 
changes from time to time in schools for early adolescents. 
An ideal must exceed possibilities of entire fulfillment; 
otherwise it will cease to be of practical stimulus. 

In schools of considerable size only can all five of the 
ends proposed be even reasonably achieved. Therefore the 
school that is too small or too poor to supply the beginnings 
of highly differentiated curricula must confine itseK to seek- 
ing the first four ends proposed, transferring its pupils, after 
the period of integration and exploration, to such institu- 
tions for differentiated work as the State may provide. 
When, because of economic limitations or of other reasons, 
higher schools cannot afford the amount of differentiation 
required, some principles should be accepted to determine 
what they will offer. The following two principles are pro- 
posed : first, such subject-matter shall be offered as promises 
the largest returns to the social unit that bears the major 
expense of the school; and, second, this being assured, the 
offerings shall be determined by needs of the majority of 
the pupils to be served. Acceptance of these principles will 
result in revolutionary changes in the programs of small 
schools; but such changes must inevitably be made — un- 
less, indeed, these principles are denied or the supporting 
taxed unit is materially enlarged. Even though the State 
or the Federal Government contribute generously to the sup- 
port of local schools, as both are likely to do if present ten- 
dencies continue, each one must become large enough to 
make possible considerable differentiation of work, or else 



28 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

the principles proposed will still be potent in determining the 
ideal program. When they become effective the school will 
make a more assured contribution to society as a whole, even 
though families are forced to provide at their own cost for 
individual children some of the subjects more generally of- 
fered now at public expense, even in the smallest secondary 
schools. 



CHAPTER n 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

A. Historical Sketch 
A READING of the history of education in the United States 
reveals that there has never been any general agreement 
as to the definition of elementary, secondary, and higher 
schools. As a matter of fact, the influence of European 
systems was so strong that in the early years there were 
many "common" and "secondary" schools with overlap- 
ping organizations and curricula. Finally, as a compromise 
necessitated by economy and democratic ideals, elementary 
schools were organized for the education of all pupils in the 
first eight years, though in the Southern States and occasion- 
ally elsewhere they include only seven grades, and in parts of 
New England they still include nine years. All of these 
organizations lead to high schools with similar curricula pre- 
paring mostly for colleges. The variety in practice may be 
seen in the Report of the United States Commissioner of 
Education for 1911. It states that 669 cities of more than 
8000 population had the organizations indicated in Table I. 
In the last decade of the nineteenth century there began 
a series of criticisms of the eight-four organization. These 
criticisms were based, not primarily, as one might suppose, 
on the illogical distribution of grades, or on the persistence 
of traditional offerings by the secondary school in spite of a 
steady increase of enrollment which tended to include "all 
the children of all the people," but on the fact that the age 



so THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

TABLE I 

Showing the Number op Cities having Various Combinations 
OF Grades in 1910-11 

Number of cities Grade combinations 

489 &-4 

48 7-4 

86 9-4 

7 8-3 

4 8-5 

3 7-5 

S2 Other combinations 

of college entraiits was higher than many thought reasonable 
and on the inadequacy of their preparation as judged by the 
college to do its work satisfactorily. 

The history of these criticisms by individuals and com- 
mittees has been presented by Bunker.^ Beginning with 
President Eliot in 1888 and extending through the National 
Education Association Committees of Ten and of Fifteen, 
there were recommendations of an adjustment of the lower 
grades so that the preparation for college might be satis- 
factorily completed at an earlier age. But all the time there 
seems to have been growing a conviction, clearly expressed 
by the Committee on the Articulation of High Schools and 
Colleges in 1911, that the secondary school should give to 
all pupils an education justifiable and satisfactory to the 
extent taken. The declaration of this committee that the 
function of the high school is "to return to society intelli- 
gent, able-bodied, and progressive citizens" educated by 
enlarged offerings adapted to local communities, is quite 
different from that of the Committee of Ten, which in 1893 

* Reorganization of the Public School System. Bulletin 8, 1916, of the 
United States Bureau of Education. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 31 

had set forth the function as "to prepare for the duties of 
hfe that small proportion of all the children in the country 
. . . who show themselves able to profit by an education 
prolonged to the eighteenth year and whose parents are 
able to support them while they remain so long at school." 

Influenced by the several committees of the National 
Education Association a number of cities during the first 
decade of this century did divide their schools into some- 
thing approximating six years of elementary and six years 
of secondary work; but a study of their statements of pro- 
grams shows that for the most part the change was merely 
an extension downward for one or two years of such subjects 
as algebra and Latin, with more or less departmental teach- 
ing. The reorganization was frequently due to peculiar 
building problems. 

During this decade, and for several years following, there 
developed criticism of the content of secondary-school cur- 
ricula and of the failure to provide for the needs of pupils 
differing widely in abilities, interests, and probable future 
schooling; and with this criticism there went claims, many 
of them extravagant, for an intermediate or junior high 
school. A reading of the addresses, committee reports, and 
magazine articles reveals many varying conceptions of the 
new type of school, but a consistency of claims. The move- 
ment, which was distinctly from above, being initiated and 
developed by administrators and educational theorists, 
"inflamed the imaginations of schoolmen"; and out of the 
discussions came a fixation of interest and a consciousness 
of needs, especially of pupils as individuals, 
i With eyes fixed on the claims rather than on the funda- 



82 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

mental conceptions of an intermediate school, superintend- 
ents began widely to reorganize their schools, often with 
inadequate building and equipment, teachers, curricula, 
courses of study, textbooks, preparation for articulation with 
lower and higher schools, and with other handicaps. This 
fact should constantly be kept in mind when one criticizes 
the achievement of junior high schools that were early 
established. In the larger cities the change was frequently 
made in only a part of the system, sometimes as an experi- 
ment and sometimes because it was possible for local reasons 
to make the change only gradually. 

The active development of the junior-high-school move- 
ment may be said to have begun in California with the 
reorganization in Berkeley by Bunker in 1909 and in Los 
Angeles by Francis in 1910. Since that time it has spread 
rapidly. After an interruption by the World War, it has 
apparently taken on a new impetus, especially in the cities, 
and is extending in all parts of the country. ^ 

The years in which the 272 junior high schools report- 
ing on this item were established may be seen in Table II. 

TABLE II 
Showing the Years m which 272 Junior High Schools were 

ESTABLISHED 
Year Number Year Number 

21 

27 

44 

76 

68 

6 

^ Details as to the extent of the movement will be found on pages 56-64. 



Before 
1905.. 


J 1900 


2 

1 


1912 
1913 


1907. . 




1 


1914 


1908. . 




3 


1915 


1909.. 




8 


1916 


1910.. 




11 


1917 


1911.. 




9 





DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 83 

The fact that the number decreases after 1915 must not be 
interpreted as evidence that the peak of the movement had 
been passed; it means, rather, that the more recently estab- 
lished schools were not known and so did not receive the 
questionnaire. 

As suggested above, the reorganization of schools on the 
6-6, 6-3-3, or 6-2-4 plans was not always due primarily to a 
conception of definite programs for educational reforms. In 
some instances a superintendent had an outgrown high- 
school building which was too good to destroy and yet not 
suited for all the elementary grades; in others there was a 
growth of population in a section of the city remote from the 
existing high school; in others still there was overcrowding 
that could best be relieved by a building in which pupils of 
the upper grades and the first year of the high school could 
be congregated. These and other similar conditions not 
infrequently were the cogent reasons for reorganization. 
Some critics were hostile to a movement that frequently was 
not based on a clear conception of educational advancement, 
one suggesting that unless there is "a definite program for 
the reform of the curricula, of the courses of study, of the 
methods of teaching, and of the social administration of the 
intermediate grades," reorganization should be left to better 
men. But it must be admitted that junior high schools, 
even when established for purely administrative reasons, 
have in many instances made desirable advance in educa- 
tional matters so as to justify themselves. There is in the 
intermediate schools to-day a receptivity that puts a grave 
responsibility on educational leaders and that promises well 
for the future. 



34 THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 

TABLE III 

The Chief Reason given by each of 266 Junior High Schools 

FOR their Establishment 
To provide 

educational opportunity 60 

for earlier differentiation 15 

for more intelligent election 1 

for sex segregation 1 

better for grades 7, 8, 9 21 

better for grade 9 1 

for children not adapted to high-school methods 1 

for children of the industrial classes 3 

for children leaving school early 4 

for earlier college preparation 1 

for accelerant pupils 1 

To increase retention 18 

To increase the enrollment 1 

To bring the high school nearer homes of pupils 1 

To reduce retardation 1 

To reduce failures 1 

To secure better scholarship 1 

To secure better organization 9 

To bridge the gap between elementary and high school 15 

To reduce costs 6 

To save time 4 

To relieve congestion 36 

To utilize old high-school building 26 

To use the entire plant 1 

To enrich curricula 3 

To vitalize education of adolescents 1 

To increase interest 2 

To introduce foreign languages earlier 2 

To introduce pre vocational work earlier 11 

To serve rural community better : 4 

To provide a community school 1 

To secure better teaching 3 

To introduce departmentalization 6 

To provide a demonstration school for university 3 

To keep up with the times 1 

Total 266 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 35 

The chief reason given by 266 junior high schools for their 
estabhshment may be found in Table III. It will be noted 
that these reasons vary greatly, that they overlap, and that 
in many cases they are probably the expression of a hope 
rather than the reflection of a clearly conceived program. 

The chief stimulus for the establishment of junior high 
schools, as reported by 265 cities, has been widely varied. 
The distribution may be seen in Table IV. 

TABLE IV 

Showing the Csief Influences in the Establishment of 2Q5 
Junior High Schools 

Board of Education 29 

Superintendent of Schools 225 

County Superintendent 2 

Principal of High School 2 

Principal of Grammar School 3 

Teachers ^ 

Colleges • * ^ 

Community 1 

265 

What influences lay beyond those stated one can only 
guess; but the effect of the early work of such men as 
Charles Hughes Johnston may still be seen in Kansas. 
There is no question that college departments of education 
stimulated and directed many of those who directly caused 
a reorganization of the schools. 

B. Major Types of Conception 
An analysis of discussions and experimentation shows 
that there are three major conceptions of the purpose of 
the junior high school: first, that it should afford an earlier 



36 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

beginning of a more or less conventional secondary edu- 
cation; second, that it should furnish trade training for 
those who will soon enter work; and, third, that it should 
explore the interests, aptitudes, and capacities of pupils and 
start each upon studies leading to a suitable goal. Often 
the junior high school is conceived as serving two or more 
of these functions at the same time. 

Earlier beginning of secondary education. Influenced 
by European practice, this conception was not uncommon 
in the United States long before the junior-high-school move- 
ment began. For a number of years the Boston Latin 
School has received for a six-year secondary course pupils 
who were prepared to enter the regular seventh grade, and 
many, perhaps most, of the " fitting schools," especially in 
the East, begin their preparation for college at approxi- 
mately the seventh grade. These schools are for pupils who 
not only are assured of the opportunity for education in 
college or imiversity, but who also for the most part have 
had superior advantages in their elementary schools and 
in their environments, at home and often in travel. For 
such selected pupils the curriculum should be considerably 
enriched or else completed in one or more years fewer than 
normally required. But not even in the published pro- 
grams do these selected pupils equal their fellows in Euro- 
pean schools. 

The extension to the public school of such an earlier 
beginning of secondary education involves the difficulty of 
ascertaining which pupils can and probably will continue 
their education beyond the high school and at the same 
time have the peculiar aptitudes and abilities required for 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 37 

the belles-lettres curriculum. The custom with us has been 
not only to permit, but also to encourage, every pupil to as- 
pire to the most advanced academic and professional edu- 
cation offered by secondary and higher schools. The result 
is that many a parent makes extreme sacrifice ^ to secure 
for his children an education for which they may be in no 
manner naturally endowed. This American ambition — 
to secure for the next generation a better lot than that of 
their parents — does make this the land of opportunity, but 
it also makes its schools institutions of amazing waste. As 
at present organized, the college preparatory curricula af- 
ford a minimum contribution to the pupils who after pur- 
suing them for from one to four semesters transfer to trade 
curricula or leave school for work. 

The alternative seems to be the restriction of academic 
preparatory courses to such pupils as manifest by their 
elementary-school records or by mental tests ability to pur- 
sue them successfully or else to leave the responsibility, as 
largely is the practice at present, to the individual pupil and 
his parents. The former plan is as yet somewhat inaccu- 
rate in its prognosis; the latter assures large losses — in 
finances to the community, in spirit, outlook, ambition, and 
self-confidence to pupils who try and fail, in retarded and 
limited progress to those who have the ability and aptitudes 
to succeed, and in faith in the schools to parents and other 
taxpayers. Certainly neither alternative makes this con- 
ception of the junior high school satisfactory. 

Earlier beginning of trade training. The second con- 

* See Strayer and Thorndike: Educational Administration, pp. 69-73, 
summarizing Van Denburg's study of persistence of high-school pupils. 



88 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

ception of the junior high school is based on a desire to pro- 
vide for the large number of boys and girls who leave school 
at or soon after the close of the compulsory education period. 
In European countries, where birth and economic status have 
largely determined possibilities of future vocations, and 
where tuition fees have been charged for all secondary edu- 
cation, the task has been relatively simple: on the basis of 
a brief elementary education each pupil has been trained 
for his predestined lot in life. American democracy has con- 
sistently demanded that for every pupil education shall be 
open at the top so that he may proceed as far as his inter- 
ests, abilities, and ambitions may carry him. This demand 
has in the past largely prevented adequate provisions for the 
pupil who, with or without the approval of his parents, has 
elected not to remain in school for such offerings as it pro- 
vided. 

The objections to the conception that would make the 
junior high school a trade-training institution are four: 
first, that it is undemocratic to make an early segregation 
of pupils on the basis of future vocations, thus prematurely 
stopping the common education that makes for common 
understandings and integration; second, that because of the 
social stigma often attached to the vocational curricula, or 
rather the positive social distinction associated with the 
academic, it is difficult to secure registration for vocational 
training by many pupils most in need of it; third, that it 
is impossible to foretell with anything like accuracy at the 
age of twelve or thirteen what specific trade a pupil will or 
should follow; and, finally, that the concrete work and 
novelty of trade courses attract and send prematurely to 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 39 

wage-earning many pupils who can and should have ex- 
tended education, either academic or technical. Such ob- 
jections have influenced the British ^ in their recent reform 
to provide for pupils up to the age of eighteen only an edu- 
cation of broad nature, preparing youth for the general life 
that he soon will enter — education, that is, leading to a 
sound physical body, to a knowledge of the fundamental 
laws of health, to the wise use of leisure, to effective home- 
membership, and the like. As shown elsewhere, however, 
there is widespread approval of specific trade-training in 
American junior high schools for pupils, especially those 
over-aged, who cannot be retained by any other means and 
who have determined on an early entrance on wage-earning. 

Despite the difficulties there is a steady increase in dignity 
and in popularity of the vocational curricula — so much so 
that there are constant expressions of alarm from those who 
beheve education to be merely " book learning." To an 
observer of many schools the danger seems to be rather that 
the vocational courses are too frequently in themselves 
formal and not sufficiently supported by general courses 
adapted to assured and early needs than that they are in- 
creasing in number and importance. So long as we continue 
our policy of permitting mistakes of election to be rectified 
whenever a pupil accepts a different life aim, there is small 
chance that the United States will train too large a propor- 
tion of its pupils for skilled and semi-skilled industrial careers. 

Although a constantly increasing number of schools are 
offering more or less acceptable curricula designed for pupils 
who will leave at the age of fourteen to sixteen, most of 
1 Educational Bill, 1918. 



40 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

them offer the academic cmricula too. The Lafayette 
Bloom Junior High School of Cincinnati is a conspicuous 
example of an institution with a single aim, the training of 
youth who are likely to get no further schooling. This 
school, which contains ten grades beyond the kindergarten, 
is located in a neighborhood populated by working-men 
and their families. If at any time after a pupil completes 
the eighth grade it becomes reasonably certain that he will 
continue through a regular high-school course, he is trans- 
ferred to one of the city cosmopolitan high schools. For 
those who remain courses are offered that will contribute 
to their more effective living. Some of the courses might 
well be deferred until later if there were any assurance that 
the State would get another chance to continue its edu- 
cation of the pupils. One of these courses presents some 
fimdamental conceptions of economics, a subject usually 
presented only in college, but recently offered, often with 
apologies for its incompleteness, in larger senior high schools. 
Principal Gosling argued that there was no attempt to cover 
the subjects as outlined in texts for mature students, but 
rather to present in a simple manner some fundamental 
conceptions of wealth, poverty, capital, labor, etc., that 
should be possessed by every citizen whatever his occupa- 
tion. The alternative was conceived to be the inaccurate 
and misleading information fortuitously conveyed by the 
press and the political orator. 

Two other courses in the Bloom School may be cited as 
illustrative of this type of work — one in the care of chil- 
dren, which is outlined elsewhere,^ and the other in the in- 

^ See page 164. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 41 

telligent use of books. This latter course was given in the 
pubHc Hbrary, near which the school is very properly lo- 
cated. Once a week certain of the pupils were taken to 
the library in the morning, when the adult public is seldom 
there in numbers, and taught the classification of books on 
the shelves and the use of the card catalogue and the more 
important books of reference. At this time, too, pupils were 
under guidance permitted to look up topics assigned by 
teachers of other classes. After the formal instruction the 
pupils were permitted to browse through the shelves and 
to " sample " books to which they were attracted. Such 
sampling gave a stimulus to the drawing of books for home 
reading and afforded an exceptional opportunity for the 
teacher by personal conferences and suggestions to direct 
the interests of the pupils and to improve the quality of the 
reading. Another period each week the pupils spent in the 
library taking a course in contemporary biography. Books 
and articles containing information regarding men and 
women important in the world's work were found and read, 
and the reports were followed by discussion. The possi- 
bilities of such courses are obvious. 

The advantages of this second conception of the jxmior 
high school are, that it will afford to some pupils who need 
it a training in a trade by which they may make a hving, 
and at the same time retain them in school to get some prep- 
aration for other phases of life and to receive from associa- 
tion with pupils with other futures and from extra-curricula 
activities an integration that makes for democratic society. 

Exploration. The third of the more important concep- 
tions of the junior high school proposes not so much to 



42 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

save time for each pupil by an earlier beginning of specific 
preparation for his chosen or destined work in life as it 
does to spend two or three years in assuming that differ- 
entiation is as intelligently as possible made. In other 
words, it proposes to explore by means of material in itself 
worth while the interests, aptitudes, and capacities of the 
pupils, and at the same time to reveal by material otherwise 
justifiable the possibilities in the major fields of activity, 
both intellectual and industrial. Exceptions may be made 
for those pupils who assuredly will continue their education 
through the high school or for those who assuredly will 
enter early on work. 

;. This program is exemplified frequently by " try-out " 
courses, somewhat valuable for those who do not continue 
the work. The procedure is to an extent justified by the 
fact that it is more economical for a pupil to experiment 
at the age of twelve to fifteen than it will be two or three 
years later. It may be noted at this point that it is as truly 
an achievement for a pupil to learn early that he does not 
have an aptitude for a particular study as that he does, or 
for him to learn that a vocation does not have for him the 
possibilities for advancement that he demands as that it 
does. An intermediate school in New York City offers 
" try-out " courses for boys in sheet-metal work and for 
girls in power-machine sewing, vocations that draw heavily 
on the neighborhood for workers. The result, however, is 
that the boys and girls who take the courses seldom on leav- 
ing school follow the trades, having learned by their experi- 
ence and visits to shops of the poor working conditions, un- 
satisfactory wages, and limitations on advancement. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 43 

An acceptance of this fundamental aim of the junior 
high school demands that it offer the possibility of a great 
deal more than merely a " try-out." The courses should be 
formulated so as to be primarily of value to each pupil, 
whatever his future election, so as to stimulate him toward 
the highest career for which he may prove to be fitted, so as 
to furnish a sound foundation for his future studies in the 
same field, and finally, so as to integrate the whole social 
group. It is reasonable to expect that as the course pro- 
gresses there will be an increasing differentiation, so that at 
the end of the ninth or tenth grade the pupils will very gener- 
ally have settled into curricula leading to their general fields of 
life-work. This does not mean that mistakes in election can- 
not after this time be remedied; it does mean, however, that 
changes in purpose will be penalized by some months of addi- 
tional study. The ninth grade was used by Cox at Solvay, 
New York, and later at St. Louis as an " adjustment year." 

This conception of the junior high school requires more 
reorganization of courses of study in particular subjects than 
does either of the other conceptions that are widely held, 
and so far relatively little has been achieved in formulating 
exploratory courses which at the same time lead to other 
highly desired and assured results; but the ideal is widely 
accepted, and here and there courses are being constructed 
or revised to achieve it. Progress of this nature will neces- 
sarily be slow until the contributions of many teachers are 
combined and made widely public. 

The report of the English Committee of the Commission 
on the Reorganization of Secondary Education ^ accepts 
* Bulletin 2, 1917. of the United States Bureau of Education. 



44 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

this as one of its fundamental purposes, as do the reports of 
several of the other committees working under the National 
Education Association Commission on the Reorganization of 
Secondary Education. Lodge ^ has outlined such a course 
for Latin, and a similar one has been taught at the Wash- 
ington Junior High School, Rochester, New York, under the 
direction of Dr. Mason D. Gray, and at Neodesha, Kansas. 
Such exploratory courses in modern foreign languages, oi 
assured worth however briefly continued, would necessitate 
the early introduction, along with common vocabulary and 
simple constructions, of the history of the people who speak 
the language, of the geography of their country, of the de- 
tails of their private life, of the national character and as- 
pirations, of literature in translation, and of the contribu- 
tions of the language to English. 

Nearly all of the recent jmiior-high-school textbooks in 
mathematics exemplify with varying degrees of consistency 
the worth-while exploratory course, emphasizing various 
assured practical uses of arithmetic and introducing the 
more commonly used operations of algebra, constructive 
geometry, and even of trigonometry that are likely to be 
of value whether the subject is continued or not. Most 
of the numerous general science texts have this conception 
as their implied or clearly enunciated basis. And it is not 
difficult to conceive of a general social-science course, draw- 
ing its materials from history, civics, sociology, and eco- 
nomics, to give an elementary understanding of the various 
fields and to aid in solving some of the problems that will 
soon lie before every pupil as a citizen. 

^ Teachers College Record, vol. 18, pp. 113-21. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 45 

Consistent courses in fine arts and music will deal much 
more with appreciation than they generally do at present. 
While learning to draw, paint, and design as they are likely 
to be called on to do later in life, boys and girls will be 
taught something of the world's masterpieces of painting, 
sculpture, and architecture. Music will not merely give a 
knowledge of chorus singing and a love for it; it will also 
teach the major forms of composition, the instruments of 
band and orchestra, and the themes of great masterpieces. 
As pupils' tastes are formed in both fine arts and music, 
teachers will discover particular aptitudes and skills which 
should receive encouragement and training in differentiated 

courses. 

Industrial work for boys, whether the all-round shop for 
the small school explained by C. A. Bowman in the Manual 
Training Magazine (vol. 18, pp. 177-80) or the rotation 
shop-work practiced in New York (the Ettinger Plan), in 
Rochester, in Duluth, in Grand Rapids, and in many other 
places, looks toward this ideal. To be most effective for 
this purpose, however, this type of industrial work should 
be supplemented by a study of occupations, both from books 
and from field trips to shops and factories. The industrial 
work for girls will contain elements not only of sewing and 
cooking, but also of millinery, nursing, household econo- 
mics, and home management.^ 

It is argued by the proponents of this plan of exploration 
that it should be prescribed for all, or nearly all, pupils re- 

1 See Cooley and others. Teachers College Record vol. 19, pp. 119-30, 
229-58, 369-89; and for bibliography see Bulletm 46, 1919. of the United 
States Bureau of Education. 



46 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

gardless of the definiteness of their life ambitions, for the 
purpose of integrating the whole social body. The youth 
who is likely to be an industrial worker should have some 
glimpse of the fields in which his fellow academic student 
must work in preparation for a professional career, and the 
latter should learn some of the difficulties to be overcome by 
the former in order that each may to some extent under- 
stand and appreciate the other's complementing contribu- 
tion to the world's work. To what extent this ideal in a 
democracy can be attained remains to be seen. As an ideal 
it is likely to be generally accepted. 

The purpose of this section is to set forth the three major 
^conceptions of the junior high school which are to-day con- 
tending for general acceptance, and to emphasize the ne- 
cessity of a clear understanding of more or less conflicting 
purposes before any extensive reorganization is made. 
Ideally the arguments seem most cogent for an intermedi- 
ate school of the exploratory type, but doubtless many com- 
promises involving the two other types will be necessitated 
by the lack of complete programs, adequate teachers, and 
equipment, or by certain local conditions, such as the char- 
acter and traditions of the population in a community and 
laws for compulsory school attendance. 

C. Definitions 

The various names assigned to the new type of school 
give little or no clue to the conception held by the founders. 
Junior high school, intermediate school, junior school, de- 
partmental school, and other names alike indicate the insti- 
tution established to improve the education of pupils of early 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 47 

adolescence. Probably in the minds of those who invented 
the names, the intermediate school was conceived primarily 
as a transition between the elementary grades and the high 
school, and the junior high school as an institution to com- 
plete the education of those pupils who expect to enter on 
work about the age of fifteen. But at the present nearly all 
junior high schools attempt both functions. In California 
the name intermediate school is general; in the North Central 
territory 57.3 per cent bear the name junior high school, 
which is most frequent elsewhere in the United States. 

There are three methods of securing a definition of the new 
institution. The first is to state an individual opinion; the 
second is to use the laboratory method — examine a large 
number of intermediate schools that are said to be reorgan- 
ized and use the common elements as a basis for definition; 
and the third is to secure the composite opinion of men who 
are most competent to judge what a junior high school is 
or should be. 

During the past decade many individual definitions have 
been made.^ All of these are interesting, of course, as 
revealing a varied and developing conception of the new 
type of school; but each has only the validity resulting from 
the vision of its author. For several reasons it is diflBcult to 
compare these individual definitions, as some are positive 
while others are negative; they are based on purposes, re- 
sults, organization, administration, curricula, methods of 
teaching, age of pupils, and the like; they often are in terms 
of what ideally should be, unqualified by the limitations of 

* A number of these are quoted by Douglass in The Junior High School, 
pp. 14-16. 



48 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

practical application; and they nearly always are stated in 
condensed form, the elements determined by the particular 
purpose for which they are presented. After all, as Augus- 
tine Birrell has said of Liberalism, the junior high school is 
not at present a definite institution, but rather a state of 
mind, or a striving to achieve a vision, either limited or 
extensive. 

Charles Hughes Johnston,^ one of the pioneers in second- 
ary-school reorganization who had wide information and 
an even wider vision, wrote that the junior high school 

is the name we have come to associate with new ideas of promotion, 
new methods of preventing elimination, new devices for moving 
selected groups through subject-matter at different rates, higher 
compulsory school age, new and thorough analysis of pupil popu- 
lations, enriched courses, varied and partially differentiated cur- 
riculum offerings, scientifically directed study practice, new schemes 
for all sorts of educational guidance, new psychological characteri- 
zations of types in approaching the paramount school problem of 
individual differences, new school year, new school day, new kind 
of class exercise, new kinds of laboratory and library equipment 
and utilization, and new kinds of intimate community service. 

Other features that he specifically mentions elsewhere are 
provision for the over-age pupil, better teachers and better 
supervision, increased exploration facilities, project and 
other like methods of instruction, discipline adjusted to 
early adolescence, departmental teaching, and design in 
curriculum organization. " Curriculum differentiation," he 
says, " is the crucial issue." 

A large number of individual definitions have been col- 
lated, however, and the results presented ^ so that one may 

1 Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 2, pp. 413-24. 
^ Briggs: "A Composite Definition of the Junior High School," Educa- 
tional Administration and Supervision, vol. 6, pp. 181 ff. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 49 

see what elements have seemed to those interested in the 
movement of most importance. The percentages in this 
composite definition, which may be seen in Table V, should 
not be understood, however, as indicating the relative im- 
portance of the items; for if all the items were marked 
even by the authors quoted, the results would probably 
be different. 

TABLE V 

Showing the per cent of 68 Individuals who included Each 
Item in a Definition of the Junior High School 

Items Per cent 

Provisions for individual differences 64 . 7 

Departmental teaching 51.5 

Retention in school 48 . 5 

Differentiated curricula 41.2 

Combination of grades 7, 8, 9 41 . 2 

Enriched curricula 39 . 7 

Promotion by subject 89 . 7 

Gradual transition 36 . 8 

Economy of time 29 . 4 

Homogeneous grouping 23 . 4 

Exploration of interests, aptitudes, and capacities 22. 1 

Supervised study 20 . 6 

Vitalized instruction 20 . 6 

Provisions for adolescence 20 . 6 

Segregation (distinct educational unit) 19.2 

Flexible curricula 16.2 

Provisions for social interests 16.2 

Prevocational training 14.7 

Reorganization of subject-matter .- 10 . S 

Satisfaction of community needs 10.3 

Elimination of undesirable subject-matter 7.4 

Educational guidance 7.4 

Vocational guidance 7.4 

Vocational or trade training 7.4 

Encouragement of initiative 5.9 



60 THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 

One careful attempt to define the junior high school is 
that by Lewis. ^ He sets up the following ten standards: 

1. Entrance requirements. It is proposed that the entrance 
requirements for a junior high school shall provide for the admis- 
sion of three different groups of children: (a) those regularly pro- 
moted from the previous grade; (6) those of 14 to 21 years of age 
and of uncertain or low educational attainments; and (c) many 
ambitious children who have left school, but desire to return for 
more education. 

2. Classification of pupils. Seven bases are proposed : maturity, 
ability to learn and to do, probable future schooling, natural 
capacity and interest, command of the English language, marked 
physical and mental abnormalities, and sex. 

3. Grades included. Preferably 7 to 9. 

4. Housing. No one of the four plans recommended. 

5. Methods of promotion. By subjects, semi-annually. 

6. Number and kinds of curricula. "Every junior high school 
should maintain at least two courses: a general prevocational 
course largely free from the so-called high-school subjects and open 
to children who will probably not enter the senior high school; 
the second course should be a literary or high-school preparatory 
course for those intending to enter the senior high school.'* 

7. Departmentalized instruction. 

8. Preparation of teachers. "All teachers shall be graduates of 
a four-year high-school course or its equivalent. In addition they 
shall be graduates of a standard normal school with at least one 
year of practice-teaching experience or they shall have had at least 
two years of college work, with preparation in the branches to 
be taught, with practice-teaching experience. Furthermore, all 
teachers shall be required to have had two years of distinctive suc- 
cessful teaching experience, preferably in the grades, and show 
some evidence of professional interest, training, and study before 
being employed to teach in junior high schools. Better still, all 
should be college graduates, with practice-teaching experience and 
one year of successful classroom experience in the grades. It is 

* "Standards for Measuring Junior High Schools," University of Iowa 
Extension Bulletin, No. 25. - 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 61 

desirable that special preparation should be made durmg the col- 
lege course to teach one or two subjects." 

9. Pupil advisory system. A systematic scheme for educational, 
vocational, and personal advice. 

10. Supervised study. 

The North Central Association in 1918 adopted the fol- 
lowing definition and statement of aims: 

The junior high school shall normally include the 7th, 8th, and 
9th years of public-school work. The junior-high-school organiza- 
tion and administration shall realize the followmg aims and pur- 
poses : 

1. To continue through its instructional program the amis of 
public education in a democracy. 

2. To reduce to the minunum the elimination of pupils by offer- 
ing types of work best suited to their interests, needs, and capacities. 

3. To give the pupil an opportunity under systematic educa- 
tional guidance to discover his dominant interests, capacities, and 
limitations with reference to his future vocational activities or the 
continuance of his education in higher schools. 

4. To economize time through such organization and adminis- 
tration of subjects and courses both for those who will continue 
their education in higher schools and for those who will enter im- 
mediately into life's activities. 

The New International Dictionary, advised by experts in 
education, defines the junior high school as; 

A school organization mtermediate between the grammar school 
and the high school, formed by a union of the upper grades of the 
grammar school usually with one, and occasionally with two, 
grades of the high school, making a separate group and aiming to 
provide for individual differences among students and also to facili- 
tate transfer from the grammar school to the high school, especially 
by allowing a limited amount of election of studies and by employ- 
ing departmental teachers. 

Because of the wide variability in junior high schools a 
laboratory study of their practice can yield no satisfactory 



53 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

definition at present. On this basis one can say scarcely 
more than that the junior high school is an institution for the 
education of boys and girls of early adolescence. 

There are some data, however, that contribute to a defini- 
tion on this basis. In the questionnaire principals were 
asked to check each of four phases of a definition to indicate 
which characterize their schools. Following is the definition 
with the number and per cent of 275 schools checking each 
part: 

The junior high school is a special organization of one or more 
grades of 7 to 10 — 

a. Providing by various means for individual differences, espe- 
cially by an earlier introduction of prevocational work and of 
subjects usually taught in the high school. (204, or 74.2 per 
cent.) 

b. Providing departmental teaching, promotion by subject, 
differentiated curricula, and special attention to extra-class 
activities. (246, or 88.7; with 3, or 1.1 per cent, saying 
"partial") 

c. Providing by means of extensive and practical courses explo- 
ration for the pupils of various fields of learning and of the 
pupils' own interests, aptitudes, and abilities. (137, or 49.8 
per cent; with 13, or 4.7 per cent saying "partial.") 

d. Providing training particularly to fit for life the pupils likely 
to leave school before completing the senior high school. 
(151, or 54.9 per cent ; with 14, or 5.1 per cent saying "partial.") 

The third method, the formulation of a definition by 
the composite opinion of men who have shown the most 
interest in the new type of institution, has been used twice. 

Childs ^ reports that twenty -five Indiana superintendents 
of schools gave to eighteen items in junior high schools the 
following relative ranks: 

* Reorganization Movement in the Grammar Grades of Indiana Schools, 
p. 17. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 53 

A. Subject modifications: «. 

1. Reorganized courses of study. 

2. Opportunity for pupils to take more extensive offerings in 
prevocational subjects than the minimum state require- 
ments. , 

4. Opportunity for pupils to take some subjects of the high 
school earlier, as foreign languages or algebra. 

B. Revised methods: 

5. Departmental teaching. 

8. The use of the same teachers as in the senior high school, 
both in academic and special subjects. 

9. Reorganized methods of teaching. 
10. Provision for supervised study. 

C. Organization: ' • i • 

6. Close contact of grammar-school grades with the senior 
high school with respect to housing and the use of labora- 
tories and equipment. 

15.5. A distinctive organization separate from the elementary 
grades and the senior high school. 

D. Provisions for individual differences: 

3. Provision for greater differentiation of curricula than 
under the old conditions. 

7. Promotion by subject. 

11. Provision for rapid advancement of bright groups. 

18. Opportunity for over-age pupils regardless of then: scho- 
lastic attainments. 
15.5. Shortening the period of elementary- and high-school 
training by one year. 

17. Provision for specific training along lines of mterest and 
ability. 

E. Provision for exploration and guidance: 

12.5. Provision for educational and vocational information and 

guidance. 
12.5. Opportunity to discover interests and capacities. 
14. Better organization of pupils' social activities. 

Briggs ^ used a more comprehensive series of items and 
1 Educational Admirdstration and Supervision, vol. 5, pp. 283-301. 



54 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

a larger number of judges (16 professors of education, 8 
state superintendents of schools or their representatives, 
19 city superintendents, and 18 principals of junior high 
schools) to secure a similar composite definition. Following 
are the items with the percentage of the judges voting each 
(A) as essential, (B) as desirable, and (C) as either essential 
or desirable. Numerous qualifications to the answers are 
quoted in the article from which these data are taken: 

TABLE VI 

Showing per cents of Approval of Definition Units 

1. A distinct educational unit, (A, 54.1; B, 14.8; C, 68.9.) 

2. separated in organization from the elementary grades, (A, 
62.3; B, 24.6; C, 86.9.) 

3. separated in organization from the senior high school. (A, 
41.0;B, 44.3; C, 85.3.) 

Combining the school years 

4. 7-8 (A, 9.8; B, 9.8; C, 19.7.) 

5. 7-9 (A, 41.0; B, 54.1; C, 95.1.) 

6. 7-10 (A, 11.5; B, 19.7; C, 31.2.) 

7. Other combinations. (A, 4.9; B, 4.9; C, 9.8.) 

8. Suitable for all pupils approximately 12 to 16 years of age. 
(A, 72.1; B, 18.0; C, 90.1.) 

Seeking 

9. to retain pupils longer in school, (A, 72.1; B, 23.0; C, 95.1.) 

10. to provide curricula of a vocational character for pupils who 
will assuredly leave school early, (A, 59.0; B, 31.1; C, 90.1.) 

11. to provide a more gradual transition to higher schools, (A, 
78.7; B, 14.8; C, 93.5.) 

12. to accelerate in varying degrees all pupils who will continue 
in school, (A, 67.2; B, 29.5; C, 96.7.) 

13. to explore pupils' interests, (A, 80.3; B, 16.4; C, 96.7.) 

14. to explore pupils' aptitudes, (A, 83.6; B, 14.8; C, 98.4.) 

15. to explore pupils' capacities; (A, 80.3; B, 14.8; C, 95.1.) 

to explore for the pupil by means of material in itself worth 
while: 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 55 

16. possibilities in the major academic subjects, (A, 59.0; B, 
32.8; C, 91.8.) 

17. possibilities in several industries of local importance. (A, 
49.2; B, 39.3; C, 88.5.) 

Providing for individual differences 

18. by differentiated curricula, (A, 77.0; B, 19.7; C, 96.7.) 

19. gradually increasing in differentiation, (A, 73.8; B, 21.3; 
C, 95.1.) 

20. fully differentiated as early as the future of pupils is known 
with reasonable definiteness. (A, 24.6; B, 32.8; C, 57.4.) 

This approves in the junior high school 

21. real vocational training for pupils who with their parents* 
consent decided to enter a trade about the age of sixteen, 
(A, 16.4; B, 42.6; C, 59.0.) 

22. earlier direct preparation for higher education for pupils 
likely to continue school; (A, 41.0; B, 41.0; C, 82.0.) 

23. by the organization of groups homogeneous in ability. (A, 
27.9; B, 69.2; C, 96.1.) 

Using methods of teaching 

24. between those of the elementary school and those of the high 
school, (A, 72.1; B, 13.2; C, 85.3.) 

25. including many projects, (A, 59.0; B, 31.1; C, 90.1.) 

26. encouraging initiation on the part of pupils. (A, 75.4; B, 
14.8; C, 90.1.) 

Using departmental teaching 

27. partial, (A, 42.6; B, 8.2; C, 50.8.) 

28. fuU, (A, 29.5; B, 23.0; C, 52.5.) , 

29. a gradually increasing amount. (A, 45.9; B, 19.7; C, 
65S.) 

SO. Using promotion by subject. (A, 73.8; B, 19.7; C, 93.5.) 
Providing curricula 

31. enriched beyond those commonly found for pupils 12 to 16 
years of age, (A, 85.3; B, 11.5; C, 96.8.) 

32. flexible to suit individual needs. (A, 83.6; B, 14.8; C, 98.4.) 
Reorganizing courses of study 

so as to eliminate material justified for the most part 
S3, only by traditional practice, (A, 80.3; B, 18.0; C, 98.4.) 
34. only by the logical organization of subject-matter, (A, 70.5; 

B, 23.0; C, 93.5.) 



56 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

S5. only by deferred values, (A, 29.5; B, 34.4; C, 63.9.) 
So as to meet assured 

36. immediate needs, (A, 50.8; B, 27.9; C, 78.7.) 

37. future needs. (A. 47.5; B, 32.8; C, 80.3.) 
Providing systematic guidance for each individual pupil 

38. educational, (A, 65.6; B, 32.8; C. 98.4.) 

39. personal, (A, 68.9; B, 27.9; C, 96.7.) 

40. vocational. (A, 57.4; B, 41.0; C, 98.4.) 

41. Emphasizing extra-curriculum activities of various kinds. 
(A, 50.8; B, 44.3; C, 95.1.) 

42. Granting an increased amount of opportunity to pupils for 
participation in the social administration of the school. 
(A, 52.4; B, 37.7; C, 90.1.) 

As, separate items, not necessarily included under this head: 
In discipline 

43. by some form of self-government, (A, 24.6; B, 54.1 ; C, 781^7.) 

44. by advisory councils. (A, 26.2; B, 59.0; C, 85.2.) 

From these data any one can make Ms own definition of 
what a junior high school is or ought to be. It certainly 
would be unwise, however, at this time to consider any defi- 
nition as more than tentative, to be modified as the needs 
of early adolescence and the possibilities of the institution 
are more clearly seen. 

D. Extent of the Junioh-High-School Movement 

A question frequently asked is. How many junior high 
schools are there? Any satisfactory answer to this question 
must start with a generally accepted definition, and this, as 
we have aheady seen, does not exist. Under the circum- 
stances, then, we can do no more than attempt to ascertain 
how many junior high schools are reported and claimed by 
those who reply to letters of inquiry. 

The method pursued in this study to secure an approxi- 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 57 

mate reply to the question was, first, to collate all of the 
tentative lists that had been made of junior high schools; 
second, to send this Hst to each State Department of Educa- 
tion, with a request that it be supplemented; third, to write 
to each principal asking if he considered his school of the 
new type; and, fourth, to send an extended questionnaire to 
all who replied affirmatively to the first or to a follow-up in- 
quiry, and to those from whom no reply was received. These 
questionnaire replies represent conditions as they were in 
the spring of 1917. 

As might be expected, a great deal of confusion was 
caused by the replies, especially when they were supple- 
mented by data from other sources. For example, one 
principal reported that he did not have a junior high school, 
yet the Assistant Superintendent had two months previ- 
ously conducted the inquirer to the very school as an illus- 
tration of what the city was attempting by way of reorgan- 
izing intermediate grade education. A denial was received 
from Boston, yet in Superintendent Dyer's Annual Report 
for 1917 appears: "At the present time the third year or 
ninth grade has been developed and is in operation in ten 
districts. The School Committee has by a definite order 
recognized the intermediate department as a part of the 
school system." The ninth grade of this department has re- 
he ved the high schools of more than eight hundred pupils. A 
number of places were recorded, and are still being recorded 
in reports, as having junior high schools, though the princi- 
pals do not themselves make the claim. Beverly and Med- 
ford, Massachusetts, come in this category. The State In- 
spector of High Schools of North Dakota records in his Re- 



58 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

port for 1917 the following, which do not appear in any gen- 
eral list and for which this report has no data: First Class 
Junior High Schools: 2, and 4 in part; First Class Six-Six 
Plan: 3; Second Class Junior High Schools: 1, and 2 in part; 
Second Class Six-Six Plan: 2, and 2 in part; Third Class 
Junior High Schools: 2 in part; Third Class Six-Six Plan: 1, 
and 1 in part. And the University of Illinois High-School 
Visitor records in his Report for 1917-18 the following ac- 
credited junior high schools of which we have no other rec- 
ord or from which no reply was received: Belleville Town- 
ship, Chicago (the Lucy Flower Technical School), Dundee, 
Monmouth, Normal, St. Charles, Urbana, and Woodstock. 
Doubtless there were also other junior high schools of which 
no record was found. 

A report that a junior high school is at a place is fre- 
quently — perhaps usually — an indication that a reorgani- 
zation is contemplated, even though the principal or super- 
intendent does not reply to inquiry or denies its existence. 
Davenport, Iowa, for example, denied having a junior high 
school in 1917, yet it had just voted $850,000 to build three; 
Jackson, Michigan, had none in 1917, yet a year later it 
opened two at a cost of $700,000; Lexington, Kentucky, and 
East Syracuse, New York, are other cities that reorganized 
their schools soon after the inquiry was finished. A consider- 
able number of places that denied having junior high schools 
replied that "one may be opened next year." 

Critics on going over the list express surprise that a junior 
high school is claimed in this place or is denied in that, of 
which they have personal knowledge. It is all a matter of 
definition. One illustration of the difference in conception 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 59 

will suffice. From an unpublished study by the Council of 
Education of the State of New Jersey are taken the follow- 
ing brief descriptions of two schools, the former claiming a 
junior high school, the latter denying one: 

Bloomfield: Eighth-grade pupils preparing for academic high- 
school courses take algebra and either Latin or French. Pupils 
preparing for the commercial course in the high school and those 
who do not expect to enter high school take in the eighth-grade 
bookkeeping and a larger amount of industrial work (domestic sci- 
ence for girls and shop-work for boys) than do the other pupils. 
In other subjects the work is uniform for all pupils. 

Englewood: All seventh- and eighth-grade pupils are brought to- 
gether in an intermediate school. Pupils are divided into four 
groups, each characterized by an elective subject or group of sub- 
jects as follows : 

Group A — Latin or French. 
Group B — Typewriting and extra English. 
Group C — Drawing and Household Arts. 
Group D — Mechanical Drawing and Printing. 

Each of the elective subjects or group of subjects occupies four 
hours a week. The mathematics of Grade 8 A for Group A is 
arithmetic and algebra; for Group B, Commercial Arithmetic and 
the elements of bookkeeping; for Groups C and D, practical appli- 
cations of arithmetic and accounts. In other subjects the work is 
identical for all four groups. A different emphasis is, however, 
given to the English work of Group A from that of the other three 
groups. 

Following the entry of the United States into the World 
War there was a slowing-down of all normal progressive 
movements in education, the schools devoting themselves to 
routine work and without stint to the tasks assigned them 
by the Government and its auxiliary agencies. All building 
programs were held in abeyance and the reorganization of 
schools almost entirely stopped. But all the time plans 



m THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

were being made; and after the armistice the establishing of 
junior high schools began again in earnest, especially in the 
larger cities. 

In Table VII is presented the number of junior high 
schools reported in the several States up to March, 1917, 
with data returned for this study as to the number claiming 
reorganization, filling out questionnaires, and not replying. 
There is also included the distribution of 293 junior high 
schools reporting in 1918 to Davis from the seventeen States 
in the territory of the North Central Association of Colleges 
and Secondary Schools. The differences between the two 
returns will emphasize the difficulty of ascertaining the 
number of schools that have at any time been reorganized. 

Up to the spring of 1917, 800 junior high schools had been 
reported; of these 292 filled and returned questionnaires, 
and 85 more claimed to be junior high schools, but made no 
detailed returns of data. In all, then, there were 377 schools 
that claimed to have effected reorganization. To this total 
there should, of course, be added such schools as were men- 
tioned above (pages 57-59), and a number, on doubt, from 
those that were listed, but made no reply to one or more in- 
quiries. With the estimated increase since 1917 it is proba- 
bly well within the facts to say that there are to-day upwards 
of eight hundred junior high schools in the United States. 
The only section of the country that has been unresponsive 
to the movement is the South, from North Carolina to Lou- 
isiana, and a few States in the Far West. So rapid a growth 
of a new educational institution or of a marked modification 
in an old one is unparalleled in our history. 

The profession by so large a number of principals and 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 61 

TABLE VII 
Showing the Number op Junior High Schools reported, 

CLAIMED, returning QUESTIONNAIRES, AND DENYING REOR- 
GANIZATION 



States 



Alabama 

Arizona 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa " • . 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts. . . 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire. 

New Jersey 

New Mexico . . . . 

New York 

North Carolina . . 
North Dakota... 
Ohio 



Number of 
junior high 
schools re- 
ported in 
1917 



2 

3 

8 

51 

11 

7 



3 

4 

10 

29 

46 

40 

29 

7 

1 

6 

3 

79 

30 

34 

2 

21 

4 

17 



16 

14 



47 

3 

29 

34 



Number 
claiming 
reorgani- 
zation 



4 

31 

6 

4 



3 
10 
21 
8 
9 
4 

3 

47 
16 

22 

5 

1 

12 

14 
6 

28 

io 

22 



Number 
returning 
question- 
naires 



3 

25 

5 

4 



3 
10 
20 
8 
7 
3 

S 

22 
12 
15 

'4 
1 

8 

ii 

6 



14 

io 

21 



Number 
denying 
reorgani- 
zation 



2 
4 
11 
11 
8 
1 

2 

2 
14 

4 
2 

3 
2 
1 

• * 

1 
5 

3 
1 

7 
3 



Number 
reporting 
to Davis 
in 1918 



15 
33 
16 

28 



43 
32 

4 

26 



17 
29 



62 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



TABLE VII (continued) 



States 


Number of 
junior high 
schools re- 
ported in 
1917 


Number 
claiming 
reorgani- 
zation 


Number 
returning 
question- 
naires 


Number 
denying 
reorgani- 
zation 


Number 
reporting 
to Davis 
in 1918 


Oklahoma 

Oregon ......... 


25 

13 

34 

6 

1 

13 

8 

10 

31 

17 

6 

6 

7 

17 

7 


8 
11 
14 

1 

S 

2 
4 
16 
12 
4 
4 
3 
6 
3 


7 

10 

9 

1 

*i 

2 
3 
12 
12 
4 
4 
3 
6 
2 


2 

*8 
3 

6 

1 
4 

4 
1 
1 

2 
3 
1 


8 


Pennsylvania 

Rhode Island 

South Carolina. . . 

South Dakota 

Tennessee ....... 

Texas 


*7 


Utah... 




Vermont 

Virginia 




Washington 

West Virginia 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 


i7 

3 


Totals 


791 


377 


292 


135 


293 



superintendents that they have reorganized their schools is 
important as indicating a change in conceptions of American 
secondary education; and even when the actual chaiqges are 
small, it is of importance as revealing the dissatisfaction 
with existing organization, subject-matter, and methods, 
and a perception of an ideal that is better. That this dis- 
satisfaction exists and that the ideal is often dim invite 
leadership to direct the spirit into concrete realization. 

Junior high schools, so far as reported, ranged in size from 
23 to 2465 pupils. The 259 that gave the total enrollment 
for 1916-17 had the distribution shown in Table VIII. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 63 

TABLE VIII 

Showing the Distribution of Enrollments of 259 Junior 
High Schools of all Combinations of Grades 

Size Number Size Number 

10-100 57 801- 900 4 

101-200 61 901-1000 6 

201-300 38 1001-1100 1 

301-400 32 1101-1200 2 

401-500 23 1201-1300 4 

501-600 14 1301-1400 

601-700 7 1401-1500 1 

701-800 9 2001-2500 1 
Median — 232 pupils 

Inasmuch as these 259 schools had almost all combina- 
tions of grades (7-9, 7-8, 6-8, etc.) another distribution is 
shown in Table IX of the 157 schools having grades 7-8-9. 

TABLE IX 

Showing the Distribution of Enrollments of 167 Junior 
High Schools of Grades 7, 8, and 9 , 

Size Number Size Number 

23-25 1 501- 600 10 

26- 50 9 601- 700 15 

61- 75 12 701- 800 8 

76-100 11 801- 900 4 

101-150 19 901-1000 4 

151-200 15 1001-1100 2 

201-250 12 1101-1200 1 

251-300 11 1201-1300 2 

SOl-400 14 1501-1600 1 

401-500 15 2465 1 
Median — 248 
First Quartile — 116 
Third Quartile — 496 

The median enrollment of these 167 schools was 248 pu- 
pils. Three fourths of them had more than 116 pupils, and 
one fourth had more than 496. If we assume that there 
were 500 junior high schools in 1917 and that these 167 



64 THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 

were typical as to size, we can estimate the total number of 
pupils as approximately 125,000. The average number of 
pupils in 259 schools having grades 7-8 or 7-8-9 was 218, as 
compared with an average of 168 for the 293 schools listed by 
Davis in the North Central territory. 

Distributing the pupils by grades, we find that there were 
20,916 in the seventh; 19,711 in the eighth; and 16,026 in the 
ninth. The averages are 133.2, 125.5, and 112.1 for the re- 
spective grades. One cannot estimate from these figures the 
holding power of the junior high schools, for not only is the 
number of entering pupils growing each year, but many 
schools for one reason or another transfer pupils to or from 
the junior high school in the eighth or ninth grade. 

For the schools reporting, the average percentage of boys 
to the total enrollment in the seventh, eighth, and ninth 
grades respectively was 48.7, 48.4, and 46.6. Fifty per cent 
of the schools had in the seventh grade a range of 45.5 to 
52.7 per cent of boys; in the eighth, a range of 44.5 to 51.9; 
and in the ninth, a range of 41.9 to 51.2. Davis found 
the percentage of boys among 21,658 pupils in the North 
Central territory to be 43.9. 



CHAPTER III 
CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS 
A. Claims for the Junior High School 
The claims which have in various places been made for 
the junior high school are numerous and attractive. When a 
critic reaUzes, however, that they are based on several dif- 
ferent conceptions, he is prepared for disappointment as to 
the achievements by any single school, and he is led to con- 
sider the claims as an expression of educational ideals. In so 
far as the function implied by each claim is worth the ex- 
penditure that it will require of invention, effort, and money, 
it is likely to influence the future development of inter- 
mediate schools. Generally speaking, the claims are a 
reversal of the criticisms made of the eight-four organi- 
zation; but for convenience it has been thought wise to col- 
lect, organize, and present all the major claims that have 

been made. 

When collated, the claims seem to be (I) that the new 
organization will bring about certain administrative ad- 
vantages; (II) that it will produce better curricula and 
courses of study; (HI) that it will find or develop better 
teachers and therefore secure better teaching; (IV) that it 
will provide more fittingly for the needs of pupils due to 
individual differences; and (V) that these provisions will 
in turn retain pupils longer in school, facilitate their tran- 
sition to higher schools, save time for them, and result m a 
more effective training in character. 



66 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

These claims will now be presented in more detail, each 
followed by brief comment. 

Claim I. The junior high school will make possible cer- 
tain administrative advantages. These are; 

a. Classes of approximately normal size; 

b. A more nearly complete use of the school plant; 

c. The full use, for at least a day at a time in one building, 
of special teachers and supervisors, thus preventing 
the loss due to traveling from one school to another; 

d. The offering of differentiated curricula; 

e. Departmental teaching; 
/. Promotion by subject. 

It is obvious that the details of this general claim apply 
only to a centralized school containing enough pupils to make 
one or more full-sized classes for each half-year grade. Ref- 
erence to page 8 will show how a centralized school would 
make possible all of the six details; but sometimes, as in 
Kalamazoo, the establishing of junior high schools does 
not necessarily result in the congregation, even in a city of 
considerable size, of enough pupils to make the enumerated 
details economical. The desirability of the first three de- 
tails is assumed; that of the last three is discussed else- 
where.^ 

If pupils are distributed according to the data given for 
1916-17 2 there will be approximately the number for 
each grade in junior high schools of various sizes as shown 
in Table X. 

» See pages 127 fif., 139 f!.. 155 flf. 

' Report of United States Commissioner of Education for 1917, vol. ii, 
p. 24. 



CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS 



67 



TABLE X 

Showing Distribution of Pupils in Grades 7, 8, 9 for 
Junior High Schools op Various Sizes 



Grades 


Total 


Number of pupils 


Approximate number of 


'^ enrollment 


in each grade 


classes of 35 pupils 


7 




132 


4 


8 


S03 


111 


3 


9 




60 


2 
9 


7 




220 


6 


8 


500 


185 


5 


9 




95 


3 
14 


7 




S08 


9 


8 


700 


259 


7 


9 




133 


4 
20 


7 




528 


15 


8 


1200 


444 


13 


9 




228 


6 

34 


7 




660 


19 


8 


1500 


555 


16 


9 




285 


8 
43 



While the distribution will vary widely with the locality, 
one may estimate roughly from this table the number of 
classes that may at the beginning be expected in each grade. 



68 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

If the junior high school increases the per cent of retention, 
as it is said to do, of course the numbers in the upper grades 
will be larger. 

Claim II. The junior high school will make easier desired 
reforms in curricula, courses of study, and extra-curricula 
activities. 

To an extent this claim is imdoubtedly true, for it is 
characteristic of human nature to defer several desired 
changes until they may all be attempted together. Just as 
moving to a new house often gives the necessary stimulus 
for llhe purchase of some long-needed article of furniture 
and the rearrangement of old ones, so the administrative 
change to a new type of organization facilitates the remaking 
of educational offerings. There is frequent testimony that 
parents, teachers, and pupils have accepted as a matter of 
course in junior high schools changes which because of pro- 
tests had to be abandoned when attempted in the grammar 
grades. 

Although desired reforms are by the new organization 
made easier, it does not at all follow that they will auto- 
matically or inevitably result. Until the purposes of a 
junior high school are clearly and definitely formulated, 
changes of curricula, if made at all, will be of uncertain 
value, courses of study will continue much as in the past, 
and extra-curricula activities will be more or less fortuitous. 
But although there are several contending purposes for the 
new type of school, many evidences of modified subject- 
matter are seen; the junior high school is unquestionably 
facilitating reform in this field. Fortunately it is proving 
as effective in the small town or rural district as in the cities. 



CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS 69 

Claim in. The junior high school will find or develop 
better teachers and therefore secure better teaching. 

There is no inherent reason why this claim should be 
justified; but in practice it for several reasons usually is. 
There is a clearly recognized ambition among teachers to 
prefer teaching higher grades of work — an ambition that 
has been fostered by the practice in many places of paying 
larger salaries as the work advances and by an augmented 
social recognition for advanced teaching. As the salary of 
junior high schools is generally somewhat above that of the 
grammar grades, superintendents have seized the opportu- 
nity to reward by promotion unusually skilled and ambi- 
tious teachers in the grades. The salary, the prestige of 
the name " high school " even with " junior '* prefixed, and 
the demands of industrial subjects, too, have resulted in an 
increased number of men teachers for early adolescents. 
This result tends to satisfy those who believe that children 
at this age should come under the influences of teachers of 
both sexes. 

Again, novelty of organization facilitates the introduction 
of new and better types of teaching; teachers are more will- 
ing to attempt in the junior high schools methods which 
supported by convincing theory are difficult in older organ- 
izations because of other traditions. Observation of a 
number of junior high schools shows a spirit of receptivity 
to new methods that is most encouraging. Results in 
both small and large schools will depend, of course, on 
the clearness with which methods suited to definite pur- 
poses are conceived and presented to the teachers and on 
the consistency of skillful supervision. 



70 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

Claim IV. The junior high school will provide better 
for the needs of pupils due to individual differences: 

a. Of ability; 

b. Of prospective career: 

1. educational, 
9>, vocational; 

c. Of sex. 

This claim is based on a recognition of widespread indi- 
vidual differences of ability and on an assumption that at 
this age some work differentiated in kind or in amount should 
be offered because of these differences in ability, prospective 
career, and sex. As already shown, there is some objection 
to curricula in the junior high school differentiated on the 
basis of futiu-e career; differentiation on the basis of ability 
and sex is more generally approved, though seldom pro- 
vided. To make any differentiation possible, it is neces- 
sary to have enough pupils congregated to fill two or more 
classes for each grade; to make it profitable, there must 
again be definiteness of purpose, a more or less reformu- 
lated program for organization, subject-matter, and methods 
of teaching, and teachers who are both sympathetic with 
the plan and able. Individual differences in early adoles- 
cents are to an extent being provided for in other types of 
schools; but as the junior high school has been established 
largely because of a recognition of such differences and of 
their several demands, it probably concentrates more of its 
efforts on making satisfactory provisions than other types 
do. Certainly it so far has no traditions to make such pro- 
visions difficult. 

Claim V. The junior high school will, by its various pro- 
visions. 



CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS. 7| 

(a) increase the persistence of pupils in school; 

(b) facilitate the transition of pupils to higher schools 

(1) by destroying the sharp break between ele- 
mentary and secondary education; 

(2) by removing the change to a higher school from 
the period at which the age of compulsory edu- 
cation for most pupils terminates, and 

(3) by a saving of time for all pupils; 

(c) better develop the character of individual pupils. 

The validity of this claim depends, of course, on the ex- 
tent to which the junior high school has provided adequate 
machinery for achieving the other claims made for it. If 
it has so reformed its organization that the government 
and atmosphere are congenial to early adolescents, and the 
content of its courses and methods of teaching so that both 
pupils and parents are convinced of the worth of its instruc- 
tion, there is every reason to expect an improvement in per- 
sistence. It has recently been shown ^ that inability to do 
high-school work is not the primary cause of elimination. 
Certainly an institution which pupils enter before the law 
permits them to go to work and which offers no convenient 
stopping-point until the subjects of secondary education have 
been explored and have had a chance to make their appeal, 
an institution which provides in several ways for individual 
differences, and which affords attractive and profitable extra- 
curricula activities, is Hkely to hold pupils longer than one 
that does none of these things. 

If the junior high school has provided a gradual transi- 

1 O'Brien: A Study of High-School Failures. Teachers College Con- 
tributions to Education, No. 102. 



72 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

tion in subject-matter, in types of teaching, and in general 
atmosphere, and if by exploration and guidance it furnishes 
information concerning advanced work and its worth, it is 
likely to facilitate transfer to higher schools. The saving 
of time depends to a large extent on the conception adopted 
for the school and on the homogeneous grouping of pupils 
)f superior ability with encouragement for them to proceed 
as fast as they may with profit. If by any means pupils 
are retained longer, the school has greater opportunity by 
all its resources to develop the character of each individual. 
It is asserted that more can be done toward achieving this 
end by extra-curricula than by any other activities. 

The details of this general claim must ultimately be judged 
by results; thus far, established junior high schools are 
too various and on the whole too young to furnish con- 
vincing data. Theoretically the claim should be measur- 
ably substantiated in schools both small and large. 

B. Objections to the Junior High School 

It is not surprising that proposals for so radical a change 
in an established system as that of introducing an inter- 
mediate school should result in many objections, especially 
since the new institution has been variously conceived and 
since it has often been extravagantly advocated as a sure 
cure for all educational ills. The wonder is that objections 
should have been so little urged. Perhaps sharper and more 
insistent criticism would have effected greater definiteness 
in planning and more material changes in organization. 

For this report a summary of all objections was made, 
based on a comprehensive review of educational magazines. 



CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS 73 

on notes recorded after many visits and conversations, and 
on reports from nmnerous correspondents. It is not thought 
necessary, however, to present with comment such an expres- 
sion of judgment as that *' the arguments for a junior high 
school are unconvincing," such an expression of dim vision 
as that " the results of reorganization are not likely to be 
worth the fight against the induration of the public and 
schoolmen alike," such indefinite statements as that "six 
years for secondary education seems too long," or such de- 
tails as are not peculiar to the new type of school. The 
other objections are given with brief explanation and com- 
ment, facts regarding practice being reserved for later 
chapters. 

Objection I. The junior-high-school program is indefinite. 

For schools by and large this objection must be im- 
mediately admitted. The claims set forth have shown 
great enthusiasm as educators have glimpsed the possibility 
of breaking from tradition and of trying-out their ideas of 
what ought to be; but these visions have frequently con- 
cerned only phases of the problem and too often have 
directly contradicted each other, not only in details, but 
also in fundamental principles. Perhaps it is only by mul- 
tifarious " groping, testing, passing on " that we may ex- 
pect advance. But certainly to make any advance economi- 
cally it is necessary to prepare beforehand a definite program 
soundly based on clearly formulated principles. 

Objection II. Criticisms are for the most part of defects 
that can be remedied in the present organization. 

This objection, too, must be generally admitted. There 
are few, if any, details in all the junior high schools that 



74 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

may not be found somewhere in the most progressive ele- 
mentary schools. But there can be little question that as 
a class the junior high schools are showing more activity in 
seeking changes than are the conventional schools, and that 
when progressive they are likely to attempt more of the re- 
forms that are recognized as desirable. Those who for any 
reason object to the junior high school have one sure means 
of preventing its establishment — that is, by introducing 
into the common system the features the promise of which 
has given impetus and popularity to the movement for 
reorganization. In further rebuttal of this objection it is 
argued that the change in administrative unit makes other 
changes easier. The testimony on this point is so strong as 
to be convincing. As neither teachers nor parents have any 
traditions regarding the junior high school, they accept with 
a minimum of protest details of any reasonable program. 

The remaining objections may be grouped under three 
heads: objections certain to be remedied in time; objections 
in part or wholly remediable by good administration; and 
objections to fundamental matters. The following five ob- 
jections concern conditions that are likely to be remedied 
in time. 

Objection HI. State laws make the establishment of 
junior high schools difficult if not impossible. 

In a number of States laws that were formulated when the 
ideal was an eight-year elementary school followed by four . 
years of a high school very naturally make difficult any ma- 
terial modification of the educational program. These laws 
concern the definition of schools, the distribution of school 



CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS 75 

funds, uniform curricula or courses of study, uniform text- 
books, the certification of teachers, required records and 
reports, and compulsory attendance. 

The definition of elementary schools or of high schools is 
frequently important because of statutes referring to the 
institutions defined and because of the restrictions on prac- 
tice sometimes contained in the definition. The Indiana 
Revised Statutes,^ for example, declare that 

the elementary schools shall include the first eight (8) years of 
school work, and the course of study for such years which is now 
prescribed or may hereafter be prescribed by law. The commis- 
sioned high schools shall include not less than four (4) years' work 
following the eight years in the elementary school. 

Despite this statute, however, there are in Indiana several 
well-developed junior high schools. In California likewise 
a number of progressive junior high schools developed under 
the handicap of the law, which was amended in 1915 as 
follows: 2 

The high-school board of any high-school district or the trustees 
of any high school may prescribe intermediate-school courses and 
admit thereto pupils who have completed the sixth year of the 
elementary school. . . . The first two years of the intermediate- 
school course shall include instruction in the school studies gen- 
erally taught in the seventh and eighth grades of the elementary 
schools, and may include such other studies including secondary, 
vocational, and industrial subjects, as said high-school board may 
prescribe. 

In Vermont, too, in order that the program recommended 
by the educational survey might be adopted, the legislature 
in 1915 ^ passed amendments to the State school laws per- 

» Section 6583. « Section 1750. ^ Vermont School Laws, 1915, p. 39. 



76 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

mitting the State Board of Education, " with the approval 
of the school directors in the towns concerned," to divide 
secondary schools into two classes: (a) junior high schools, 
having a four-year course, grades 7 to 10, and (6) senior 
high schools, having a six-year course, grades 7 to 12. The 
courses are to be 

flexible in character, designed for the instruction of pupils who 
have completed an elementary course of not less than six years, 
and suitable to the number and needs of local pupils; and the 
State Board of Education shall arrange for a course of study, in- 
cluding vocational opportunities appropriate to the needs of pupils 
in the several communities. In any town where a junior high school 
is established the State Board of Education shall make the neces- 
sary readjustment of the course of study in the elementary school. 

As an illustration of the obstacles impeding the establish- 
ment of junior high schools, the old law in New Jersey may 
be cited. Under it municipalities received from the State 
$200 for each elementary teacher employed and $400 for 
each high-school teacher providing that he taught no class 
below the ninth grade. Thus a municipality would lose one 
half the apportionment by the State for each high-school 
licentiate who taught any class in grade seven or eight and 
would gain nothing for each lower-school teacher who gave 
instruction to the ninth grade. The law was amended in 
1916 so that certain cities would receive from the State 
$315 for each junior-high-school teacher. 

In States which prescribe by statute the subjects that 
may be taught in the first eight grades and which support 
the curriculum by the adoption of textbooks for uniform use 
in every school, reform in the intermediate grades would 
seem to be impossible. But there are numerous instances 



CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS 77 

of the development in such States of junior high schools, 
either because some flaw was found in the statutes or be- 
cause an evasion was approved or permitted by the authori- 
ties. Laws designed for different conditions frequently pre- 
scribe separate examinations for license to teach in the first 
eight grades and in the high school ; arid the superior license 
does not include the other. This situation creates a real 
obstacle, but not an insuperable one, since a teacher ambi- 
tious to teach in a three-year junior high school may take 
both examinations. The laws requiring uniform records 
and reports also place added labor on junior-high-school 
administrators. 

The Minnesota law provides for releasing from school 
attendance children who are fourteen years of age if they 
have completed the common branches, or the eighth grade. 

The proposed plan of regrouping . . would make this provision 
of the law a misfit. If it is to serve a useful end, the law should be 
so changed as to encourage its completion by all pupils under 
sixteen years of age.^ 

Other laws concerning this compulsory attendance, as in 
Ohio and New York, are similarly based on the old organiza- 
tion of an eight-year elementary school. But there is no 
reason to believe that the States will long hesitate to make 
any such changes in their laws as a convincing program for 
educational advance may necessitate. 

Objection IV. There is a lack of suitable text-books. 

This objection is still valid, though publishers are now 
producing a number of texts especially designed for junior 
high-school use. Whether they prove suitable or not will 
^ Bulletin 39, Minnesota State Department of Education. 



78 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

appear only after they are given extended trial. Like the 
texts prepared for other schools, they reflect the personal 
opinions of individual authors as to what should be taught» 
opinions modified by what seems to be the demand of the 
schools. It is unfortunate that there do not exist clearly 
formulated criteria for judging texts, for they probably do 
more, the country over, to influence educational practice 
than does any other one factor. The lack of texts is being 
remedied; whether the new books will be suitable or not 
depends to a large extent on the ability of their authors to 
recognize fundamental purposes of the junior high school 
and their willingness to follow declared purposes even to the 
extent of breaking with tradition. Several of the books pre- 
pared for junior high schools manifest many novel and com- 
mendable features, showing far more independence than do 
similar texts for the traditional senior high school. 

Objection V. There is a lack of suitable teachers. 

If this objection means that there is an insufficient supply 
of teachers fully informed of the purposes of the junior high 
school and adequately trained sympathetically to carry out 
those purposes in practice, it must unquestionably be sus- 
tained. But as is pointed out elsewhere, superintendents are 
very generally rewarding their successful and ambitious 
teachers by placing them in the junior high school, fre- 
quently with an increase of salary or with more agreeable 
conditions for work. Whether or not these teachers and 
the younger ones who have sought special training for their 
tasks in normal schools and colleges become satisfactory 
depends very largely on the clearness with which their 
principal perceives the purposes of the schools and the 



CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS 79 

assiduity with which by supervision he modifies their prac- 
tice to secure the desired ends. 

Objection VI. There is a lack of proper buildings and 
equipment. 

What a proper building and equipment are for a junior 
high school will be determined very largely by the educa- 
tional purpose for which it is established. If the school is 
to differ materially from the higher elementary school, it is 
not likely to find ready and open for occupancy an equipped 
building suitable for its work. The attractiveness of its 
program is quite as likely, as the popular conception of a 
city's financial status, to determine whether or not such 
a building can be secured. Facts as to buildings and 
grounds actually in use will be presented in chapter xi. 
It is pertinent to commend here the program followed at 
Beverly, Massachusetts, where the superintendent, in con- 
ference with the State Department of Education, first 
formulated the curricula for the junior high school and 
then had drawn plans for an adequate building in which 
to present the necessary courses. This seems such a 
reasonable procedure that one wonders that it is not uni- 
versal. But in order to secure some educational progress, 
many compromises have been made the country over as 
to mechanical matters. The generosity of the public in 
providing high-school buildings and equipment during the 
past two decades does not make this objection promise to 
be insuperable. 

Objection VIC. There is much opposition from elemen- 
tary-school principals and teachers who feel slighted by not 
being taken into the junior high school. 



80 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

The extent to which this objection is true is diflScuIt to as- 
certain, for it is not as a rule openly given as the cause for 
opposition. But it has had its effect, nevertheless, in subtly 
blocking numerous programs for reorganization. Although 
it is only human for one to feel a keen sting at not being 
chosen for some coveted post, the criterion in every case 
should be the interests of the pupils and the public rather 
than the feelings of some teachers and principals. To off- 
set such feeling as may result, feeling that must by the very 
nature of things be temporary, is the stimulus given to those 
who, because of ambition, ability, and industry, are chosen 
to conduct the experiment. Du Shane points out that there 
will remain yeoman work to do in the abbreviated elemen- 
tary school, especially in the last three grades, partly because 
the lower school will need material modification in fully 
performing its work, and partly because grades 4 to 6 

have not been adequately organized in times past. The teachers 
in these grades have been the new and inexperienced teachers of 
the system, as contrasted with the primary teachers on the one 
hand and the upper-grade teachers on the other. Non-promotions 
have been high. Drill has been regarded as the chief function of 
the grades, while the heavy withdrawal of pupils has given clear 
evidence that the pupils need something that is vital and attrac- 
tive. Let elementary principals attack these problems and they 
will not miss the seventh and eighth grades. 

The two following objections, in so far as they are valid, 
are wholly or in part remediable by good administration. 

Objection VIII, Departmental teaching i^ bad for pupils 
of the immaturity found in junior high schools. 

Here a real issue is joined. The arguments for and against 
departmental teaching are numerous, but unfortunately 



CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS 81 

there are few or no data as to results that warrant an ab- 
solute answer concerning its value. That the judgment of 
schoolmen is strongly in its favor is evidenced by its all but 
miiversal use in high schools and by its extension down- 
ward into the lower grades. There is so much variation 
in opinion as to when and to what extent it should be intro- 
duced that he is a rash person who ventures a dogmatic 
judgment. The arguments for and against departmental 
teaching are presented in chapter v, section A. A careful 
examination of this display will show that the arguments are 
of very uneven value, that they do not always ]om issue, 
that too frequently they rest upon assumptions unproved 
and perhaps not completely considered, and that unfortu- 
nately they are for the most part expressions of judgment 
based on wide but very varied experiences. 

If junior high schools are to '' bridge the gap " between 
the elementary and the secondary school, it would seem 
reasonable that they should use among other practices a 
modified form of departmental teaching, introducing it 
gradually from the seventh grade onward. So far as the 
arguments are sound that the change from a single teacher 
in the elementary school to several in the high school is de- 
moralizing, it would seem even stronger still against the sud- 
den change two years earlier. Testimony that no such de- 
morahzation exists when a sudden change is made in the 
seventh grade is frequent, but it is not convincing. Cer- 
tainly any system of departmental or even of semi-depart- 
mental organization that is not supplemented by a care- 
fully planned advisory system is likely to earn the objections 
that the individual pupil is inadequately looked after, di- 



82 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

rected, and encouraged. On considering the question of de- 
partmental teaching one should constantly inquire which 
of the claims are likely to be justified under reasonably good 
administration. Both departmental and non-departmental 
teaching need skillful and continued supervision. 

Objection IX. The junior high school will cause two 
gaps in the school system instead of one. 

So far as this objection is vaHd it argues for a unified 
twelve-year system. For many reasons the country has 
very generally approved as ideal the separation of secondary- 
school pupils from those younger; therefore the arguments 
pertaining to a continuous twelve-year school are not con- 
sidered here. The objection overlooks two very essential 
facts : first, that even in the most radical proposals for junior 
high schools there is no such sharp change in organization, 
in subject-matter, in discipline, and in atmosphere as there 
usually is at the beginning of the four-year high school; and, 
second, that even if there were, the compulsory-attendance 
law would hold most children over this first period of pos- 
sible ** break " and see them fairly introduced to the tran- 
sitional school. 

The final group of objections, four in number, are the 
most important of all, since they attack some of the funda- 
mental principles and programs of the junior high school. 

Objection X. The segregation of pupils of early adoles- 
cence is undesirable. 

This objection, so far as it concerns segregation from the 
younger pupils, is well voiced by Joseph S. Taylor, District 
Superintendent of the City of New York: ^ 

* New York Globe and Commercial Advertisert February 15, 1918. 



CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS 83 

We find it very desirable to have the older children associate 
with the younger. In their play and in the family the younger 
imitate the older, and thus obtain a considerable part of their 
natural education from playmates who lead in games and sports. 
In school they also get inspiration from contact with their more 
advanced associates, and desire to know and do what older folks 
know and do. The older children, too, profit by this arrangement. 
They develop a sense of responsibility and cooperation by having 
to look out for the little ones, by answering their questions, and by 
helping them in their lessons and play. The work of the older 
pupils may be used in teaching the lower grades. Maps, charts, 
diagrams for the study of history, geography, and nature are made 
by older pupils for use by the younger. Children in the last two 
years may read to children of the first two. 

Taylor favors a nine-year school preceding secondary educa- 
tion, and so does not push the argument logically forward, 
as does Superintendent Wirt, of Gary, to demand that pupils 
of all ages, from the kindergarten to the end of public school- 
ing, should be in one building. Of course the twelve-year 
school is common in small school districts, but it is sig- 
nificant that in a preponderating majority of the districts 
large enough to afford it, the secondary school is a separate 
institution; and even when housed in the same building 
with elementary grades it is usually a separate organization, 
the pupils mingling seldom by intention of the authorities. 
The assumption by advocates of separately organized 
junior high schools, an assumption generally approved by 
them after experience, is that the more homogeneous a 
group of pupils in age, interests, and social maturity, the 
better the teaching and the easier the discipline. They 
feel that it is especially desirable that early adolescents, 
who are neither children nor youth, should be segregated in 
order that adequate provision may be made for their peculi- 



84 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

arities of disposition. It is argued, too, that the influence of 
early adolescents on small children is frequently bad, and that 
if kept by themselves during the transition to youth they 
will be less influenced to imitate the imdesirable traits of 
older pupils. Whether early adolescents are segregated or 
not in a separate building, a junior-high-school program in its 
other details may be prepared and administered for them. 

Objection XI. The junior high school will cost more. 

It can easily be shown that ii no increased educational op- 
portunities are offered when a jmiior high school is estab- 
lished and if the salaries of the teachers are not increased, 
the cost per pupil will be reduced rather than increased. 
But if provisions be adequately made for desired improve- 
ments in the education of early adolescents, the objection 
will doubtless be soimdly based on fact. There is seldom 
in education, any more than elsewhere, a possibility of get- 
ting something for nothing. If a public primarily desires 
to save money, there is no simpler program for doing so than 
closing the secondary schools entirely. Whether or not the 
sharp increase in per capita cost for the high school over that 
of the grammar grades is better than a more gradual increase 
proportioned to the widening educational offering is a matter 
of opinion. The fact is that the junior high school generally 
increases the monetary outlay for education; ^ this increase 
can be justified only by a corresponding improvement in 
the educational opportunities offered, or by an increase in 
the number of pupils retained through the ninth grade. 

Objection XII. Differentiated curricula should not be 
offered until pupils have completed eight years of work 
acquiring the tools of education. 

^ See chapter xii. 



CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS 85 

This matter has been extensively considered in the pre- 
ceding chapters. It is obvious that in the absence of clearly 
formulated statements of minimum " tools of education," 
and with the great variation by different schools in equip- 
ment, length of term, trained teachers, and the like, an m- 
sistence on eight years as the length of common trammg 
is more or less meaningless. Common tools are for com- 
mon use; and, as much of life is differentiated, some part of 
training should be differentiated too. Because of the large 
number of withdrawals from school at or about the age of 
fourteen, differentiation must be begun before that time or 
it will fail to profit many who perhaps need it most. Junior- 
high-school advocates very generally urge a gradual differ- 
entiation, often not beginning until the eighth grade; and 
one of the contending programs proposes that one or more 
years of this intermediate school be given over to common 
courses exploratory in their nature so as to insure the wisest 
election possible when optional courses are offered. The 
whole problem, because highly complex and important, is 
deserving of much more consideration than has been ac- 

corded it. i • 4. 

Objection XIII. The junior high school may make against 

democracy. ^ 

This objection, which was first voiced by Bagley,i has 
been raised to its due prominence by the programs of some 
junior high schools and by the clarification of national ideals 
during the World War. While admitting that " the ad- 
vantages are clearly on the side of the six-six orgamza- 
tion from the point of view of administrative expediency 
1 School and Home Education, vol. 34, pp. 3-5. 



56 THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 

and to a large extent from the standpoint of educational 
theory,** Bagley doubted the wisdom of early differentiation 
in that the children may fail to get " a common basis of cer- 
tain ideas and ideals and standards which go a long way 
toward insuring social similarity — a basis of common feel- 
ing and common thought and common aspiration which is 
absolutely essential to an effective democracy." " Strati- 
fied society," he continued, " may encourage the develop- 
ment of social groups that cannot understand one another 
because they lack a common basis of knowledge, ideal, and 
aspiration '*; therefore he pleaded for constants in the cur- 
riculum — constants, it is reasonably assumed, such as will 
assuredly make for social integration. 

This clear-sighted vision of the possibilities of early and 
complete differentiation is stated in another form by 
Taylor: ^ 

The permanent segregation of children twelve years of age into 
liberal and industrial groups is a species of social predestination 
which is well suited to an autocratic government like that of Ger- 
many — where the class system is deliberately cultivated — but 
which is wholly unsuited to a democracy like ours. This objec- 
tion is eloquently voiced by Professor Dewey in his Schools of To- 
Morrow^ and is epitomized in the following quotation from a re- 
cent address of his: 

"Instead of trying to split schools into two kinds — one of a 
trade type for children who, it is assumed, are to be employees, and 
one of a liberal type for children of the well to do — it will aim at 
such a reorganization oi existing schools as will give all pupils a 
genuine respect for useful work, ability to render service, and con- 
tempt for social parasites, whether they be called tramps or leaders 
of society." 

* New York Globe and Commercial Advertiser^ February 15, 1918. 



CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS ,87 

Because of his careful statement of the possibilities of 
danger, Bagley has erroneously been often cited as opposed 
to the whole junior-high-schooi movement. To prevent 
there being a misconception resulting in an obstacle to gen- 
erally desired educational reform, Bagley collaborated with 
Judd, a leading advocate of the junior high school, in a 
statement ^ that is not likely to give comfort to reactionaries 
opposed to any material change in our educational progress. 
Following is a brief summary of the article, which should be 
read in its entirety: 

I. "The first principle ... is that all organira,tion within the 
schools should be judged as appropriate to the American 
system of education just in the degree in which it makes for 
continuous and uninterrupted opportunity for every pupil." 
H. The second general principle is that there should be a larger 
measure of enrichment of the course of study and of the op- 
portunity offered to the pupil, affecting especiaily grades 7-9. 

In this connection the fact should not be overlooked "that 
the enrichment of a course of study often consists in that 
internal reorganization which forces instruction from unpro- 
ductive by-paths. . . . This internal readjustment is quite as 
important as importation into the course of new material. . . . 
The enriched program must have one characteristic above 
all others. It must be appropriate to a democracy." 

a. Three positive statements. 

1. "The future must see greater emphasis than has 
the past on studies of community life and commu- 
nity needs," the term "community" not being nar- 
rowly defined. 

2. The enriched course must provide " a broad, sure 
foundation for the practical life of the individual," 
but "no narrow limitation of the individual, no 
training for a single type of life. This is not a plea 

* "Enlarging the American Elementary School," School RedieWy vol. 26^ 
pp. 313-23. 



88 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

for narrow trade training; it is rather that there 
must be a vigorous effort toward the development 
of a comprehensive view of industry, so that the 
individual may choose his career after a broad view 
of democratic opportunity." 
3. "The enrichment of the course must aim con- 
sciously at the destruction of those provincialisms 
and class prejudices which have worked in the his- 
tory of nations in the past, counter to the interests 
of democracy." 
b. Two negative statements. 

1. "A course of study (curriculum.?) is not broad and 
enriched in the sense in which the term * enrich- 
ment * is used in this article if it is a limited course 
preparing for a trade. . . . Whenever trade train- 
ing is given it should be accompanied just as far as 
possible by broadening, sympathy-cultivating in- 
struction." 

2. "There are certain forms of enlargement of the 
course of study which defeat rather than promote 
the ends of education." They are the introduction 
of more subjects than the pupils can assimilate 
and the introduction of courses "which are in form 
far beyond the maturity of the pupils." 

III. The third general principle is that provision should be made 
for ** the wide differences among pupils with respect to tastes, 
abilities, and capacities for progress." 

" If the elementary course is so safeguarded that its content 
of instruction shall give to all children some common central 
body of ideas, differentiation must be introduced cautiously 
and with full regard to the requirement that universal instruc- 
tion be given in fundamentals. It is not incompatible with 
this demand that individual differences be recognized to 
some extent from the very outset of school life, although the 
general principle of individual differences begins to assert 
itself as an important basis of educational organization in the 
middle grades of the school." Especially should provision be 
made for differences in rate of progress and in richness of 
courses because of differences in the intellectual ability of 
pupils. 



CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS 89 

The authors conclude, "Our school system should be in 
every sense a 'unit' system. It should reflect at every 
point the two fundamental and complementary principles 
of democracy — opportunity and obligation, opportunity 
for individual development, coupled with and paralleled by 
the obligation of the individual willingly to learn the lessons 
that all must learn in common if our democracy is to rest 
on a real community of ideas and ideals." 

This statement should go far toward clarifying the issue 
and stimulating schoolmen to attempt, either in the old or- 
ganization or in the new, the internal reform of subject-mat- 
ter, which is of vastly more importance than the administra- 
tive unit in which it is presented. There is very likely to be 
almost unanimous approval of the principles set forth by 
Bagley and Judd as an ideal toward which all in America 
should work; in practice, however, there will assuredly 
arise diflPerences as schools seek to satisfy the demands of the 
nation and the needs, both immediate and remote, of pupils. 
These differences in practice will arise partly because the 
elementary schools, by varying tremendously in their ef- 
fectiveness, will secure the desired community of interests 
and ideals at different periods of pupils' advancement, and 
partly because there is no agreement as to the definite amount 
of common training that is adequate. As Bagley and Judd 
themselves say, " How soon the school should recognize 
this fact," that as the child matures he differs increasingly 
from his neighbor, " and begin to offer diversified oppor- 
tunities . . . has been an unsolved problem." 

Even in the junior high schools that offer in the seventh 
grade the most markedly differentiated curricula there is 
still retained for all pupils a large amount of subject-matter 



m THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

that has been and is given in undifferentiating schools. 
Whether this is adequate or not is a matter of opinion. In 
this discussion it should never be assumed that merely be- 
cause subject-matter is common, it will therefore as a matter 
of course lead to a desirable integration. Even in the grades 
before differentiation has begun, the subject-matter must 
be intelligently chosen to achieve the end in view. It may 
be cogently argued that in all years of the secondary school, 
pupils who have elected different curricula should for the 
purposes of a social democracy mingle in classes that pre- 
sent material of common interests and needs and participate 
together in extra-curricula activities. 

It seems, in conclusion, that admitting this objection as 
valid against any schools that may attempt to make early 
and irrevocable classification of pupils, nearly every one 
approves as ideal a unified elementary course of a length 
determined by the necessity of securing democratic inte- 
gration, and a subsequent intermediate course of explora- 
tion that will gradually lead to diversified curricula. Prob- 
ably exception must under present conditions be made for 
the pupil who for one reason or another will not remain in 
school beyond the age of compulsory education. Com- 
promise and adjustment will result for him as for any other 
variation from a social, physical, or psychical norm. To 
secure the ideal in practice, then, every form of organization 
must work primarily by means of internal reform to make 
education a continuous process onward as long as it is profit- 
able and possible for any individual pupil to remain in 
school. 

A plea for the over-aged and retarded pupil is made by 



CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS 91 

Principal Cox of the Blewett Junior High School, of St. 
Louis. ^ He contends, first, for the admission to the junior 
high school of all mentally normal pupils, whatever their 
academic progress, one year before they reach the limit of 
compulsory schooling, since " it cannot be of maximum help 
to children who never reach it "; and, second, that 

it must make its instructional program so worth-while that these 
pupils will remain in school; to deny vocational preparation to 
fourteen-, fifteen-, and sixteen-year-old children is undemocratic 
and inefficient in the extreme. For over-age children [he continues] 
do leave school in the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades in disconcerting 
numbers. Offering honest vocational preparation keeps many 
of them in school, where the organization, the teachers, and at 
least a part of the curriculum are powerful influences to preserve 
and increase socially valuable characteristics and resources of these 
boys and girls "who don't like books." . . . One must face the 
actual situation, and then this academic danger of "social castes" 
turns out not to exist. And if it did exist, would the sensible way 
to meet it be to drive out of school all but the "upper caste".'' No 
one who actually develops a democratic junior high school and 
follows up the pupils who drop out of school would be willing to 
say to his over-age pupils: "If you want special training, you 
can't have it here." 

In a private letter Mr. Cox writes: 

We try to offer educational opportunities to the slow and the 
over-aged so definite and immediately valuable that they and 
their parents will find that they cannot afford to leave school. 

This general position is also held by Bonser, who states 
that according to the United States Census of 1910 a great 
majority of the workers in all the vocations but public and 
professional service — that is, nearly ninety-five per cent of 
all workers — 

} School Review, vol. 26, pp. 541-44. 



92 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

usually begin, and will continue to begin, wage-earning by the 
age of fourteen, sixteen, or eighteen years. . . . Their preparation 
for both wage-earning and the other activities of citizenship is 
seldom more than from two to four years beyond the sixth grade, 
and at best rarely more than six years. 

These thirteen objections, it will be seen, are, like the argu- 
ments for the junior high school, of uneven pertinence and 
weight. They are enumerated in order that a superintend- 
ent may criticize from every point of view the program 
that he is formulating for the improvement of his school 
system. In many cases local conditions may lay on one 
argument an emphasis that is not felt elsewhere. Certainly 
it is incumbent on any one considering a material change in 
an existing institution to 

"Image the whole, then execute the parts — 
Fancy the fabric 
Quite, ere you build, ere steel strike fire from quartz. 
Ere mortar dab brick!" 



CHAPTER IV 
ORGANIZATION 

A. Distribution of Grades and Affiliations 

As would be expected, a great majority of the junior high 
schools — 242, or 88 per cent of those reporting on this topic 
— have been established in systems previously having 
eight elementary grades. It may be questioned if more than 
half of the small number of junior high schools reporting 
from the territory of seven-year elementary schools have 
a right to the name, for there problems of unusual difficulty 
exist. If in this territory the high school is to follow the con- 
ventional curricula, as it usually attempts to do, the ele- 
mentary courses must either have been already cut to the 
quick or the work is inadequately presented to many of the 
pupils. In the territory of nine-year elementary schools, 
the problem is considerably simplified. It is well within 
safety to state that a majority of the junior high schools 
established there are reducing the public-school offering to 
the usual twelve years. 

The number of grades included in the junior high school 
is still ^ widely variable, though the tendency is strongly 
toward a combination of the seventh, eighth, and ninth. 
The distribution of grades in the 267 schools reporting may 
be seen from the accompanying table. Several prominent 
schools, though not reported here (e.g., the Bloom Jmiior 

^ See Report of United States Commissioner of Education, 1914, pp. 
148-49. 



94 *rHE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

TABLE XI 

DisTEmunoN op Gbades in 267 Junior High Schools 



Grades 


Nwmher 


Per cent 


6-8 


S 


1.1 


7 


2 


0.8 


7-8 


71 


26.6 


7-9 


174 


65.2 


7-10 





.0 


^ 8 


6 


2.2 


8-9 


8 


8.0 


8-10 


1 


0.4 


9 


2 


0.8 




Total..... 267 


100.1 



Higli School, of Cmcmnati, and the Seward Park Interme- 
diate School, New York City), have accepted the combina- 
tion of grad^ 7-10 as mc^ nearly ideal. It is not uncom- 
mon to iSnd a school ^tahfehed with grades 7-8 or 7-9 
growing until it become a Inll six-year high school; this 
has happened repeatedly in Vermont, 

The figures in Table XI were not asked for directly in 
the questaosanaire, but were gathered from the report made 
on enrollment hy grades. If the ninth-gi'ade enrolhnent 
was recorded there along with that of one or more lower 
grades, the ninth grade was checked as belon^ng to the 
Junior high school, though it is possible that in a lew cases 
there is a uniiSed six-year secondary course:. Da"i7is,^ nsing 
a different category and having more complete returns from 
the States included in the North Central Territory, found 
qiiite a diSerent distribution. This is shown in Table XII. 

^ Sdiod Review, vol. 26, p. 326. 



ORGANIZATION 95 

TABLE XII 

Distribution of Grades in 292 Junior High Schools of the 
North Central Association (Davis) 

Grades Number Per cent 

6-8 22 7.5 

7-8 133 45.4 

7-9 89 30.4 

7-12 18 6.1 

8 11 3.8 

8-9 8 2.7 

Others 11 3.8 



Total 292 99.7 

Douglass^ gives the distribution by grades for 184 junior 
high schools as indicated in Table XIII. 





TABLE XIII 




Distribution of Grades in 184 Junior High Schools 




(Douglass) 




Grades 


Number 


Per cent 


5-7 


1 


0.5 


5-8 


1 


0.5 


6-7 


1 


0.5 


6-8 


11 


6.0 


6-6 


10 


5.4 


7-8 


77 


41.8 


7-9 


64 


34.8 


7-10 


7 


3.8 


8 


3 


1.6 


8-9 


8 


4.3 


9 


1 


0.5 


Total. 


184 


99.7 



Fifteenth Year-Book, p. 88. 



96 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

In all three returns it is obvious that the tendency is over- 
whelming to combine grades 7-8 or grades 7-9. Davis and 
Douglass agree very closely in the relative percentages for 
each of these two groups, while this study found two and a 
half times as many of the three-year as of the two-year 
type. 

Unfortunately no attempt was made, by means of the 
questionnaire used for this study, to ascertain the number 
of junior high schools that are independent or that are un- 
der the direction of principals of elementary and of higher 
schools. Davis found, ^ however, that sixty per cent of his 
293 junior high schools had principals of their own. There 
has not infrequently been somewhat sharp discussion as to 
whether this is best, principals of both elementary schools 
and of high schools desiring the control "so as to effect a 
better articulation." The wisest policy seems to be that 
determined by local conditions — that is, the location of 
schools, the ideals professed, and the character of the men 
or women available. Examples can easily be shown of suc- 
cessful and of imsuccessful control by principals who have 
affiliations with other schools or who are independent. 
Observation of schools visited warrants the statement that 
the tendency to select a principal from the elementary- 
school corps rather than from the high school is somewhat 
the stronger, partly because men and women of this training 
are eager for the advancement offered by the position, and 
partly because they are believed to be generally more sym- 
pathetic with the movement. Of course there must be 
many exceptions in both directions. 

1 Loc. cit., p. 328. 



ORGANIZATION 97 

B. Relation to Elementary Schools, including 

Admission 

The relation of the junior high school to the first six grades 
depends in theory primarily on the conception of the pur- 
poses of the intermediate organization. If one of the more 
important purposes of the junior high school is to bridge 
the gap that exists between the elementary and secondary 
schools, then certainly it should not create another one be- 
tween the sixth and seventh grades, even though the com- 
pulsory-education law holds most pupils until they pass 
beyond that point. Consistency of theory demands close 
articulation with the elementary grades, but unfortunately 
it had not generally been provided for when junior high 
schools were instituted. The articulation should be in sub- 
ject-matter, in methods of teaching, and in social control 

of the pupils. 

As pointed out elsewhere, it is impracticable and unwise 
to prescribe definite work for all junior high schools regard- 
less of what has been accomphshed in the elementary grades. 
The recognized variability in elementary schools makes it 
necessary for the junior-high-school program to base itself 
soundly on what has preceded. Whether the junior high 
school is to be in the first instance exploratory, a continua- 
tion of elementary work, or a preparation for secondary 
studies, it must know definitely on what it may build. In all 
probability much of the work now given in grades 5-8 of 
the elementary school will need to be redistributed to make 
the articulation satisfactory. 

The questionnaire asked on this point, " What changes 
in the curriculum or courses of study in the elementary 



m THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

school have been made because of the junior high-school 
organization? ** To this the replies were made by 255 
cities as summarized in Table XIV: 

TABLE XIV 

Changes in Curriculum or Courses of Study in the 
Elementary School because of the Junior-High-School 
Organization 

1. None 132 

2. To meet junior-high-school requirements 3 

3. Addition of elections 2 

4. Simplifying and eliminating useless material ... 9 

5. More ground covered in various essentials 12 

6. Entirely revised 8 

7. More applied subjects 1 

8. More industrial work 19 

9. Larger choice of subjects 2 

10. Departmental in one subject 1 

11. Organized like junior high school 1 

12. English 11 

13. Grammar 3 

14. Foreign language introduced 17 

15. History 4 

16. Civics 1 

17. Geography , 6 

18. General science introduced 8 

19. Arithmetic 12 

20. Algebra added , 2 

21. Drawing 1 

These answers probably should not be taken at their face 
value, for several of them (e.g., numbers 14 and 19) suggest 
that the question was not carefuUy read. It is not likely 
that because of a junior-high-school organization secondary- 
school subjects were introduced into more than ten per cent 
of the schools. Only ten or fifteen per cent apparently 



ORGANIZATION 99 

claim to have made any extensive changes in the subject- 
matter taught in the elementary grades, 
i To the additional questions, " Are the outlines of such 
modified courses of study available? " there were 76 af- 
firmative and 58 negative answers. Twenty-four of the 
cities sent with the replies copies of their " courses of study," 
which in nearly every case proved to be a program of studies 
or an outline of curricula. If a thoroughgoing readjust- 
ment of elementary-school work has anywhere been made in 
preparation for the establishment of a junior high school, the 
fact has escaped notice. Without this preparation it is 
surprising that the junior high school has been as success- 
ful as it seems to be. Du Shane ^ and others have pointed 
out that conditions in grades 4-6 are far from satisfactory, 
so that it would seem reasonable to expect a superintendent 
to attack the problem of these grades at the same time or 
before he undertakes a reorganization higher up. 

Upon the efficiency of the work done here [grades 4-6] will 
depend in large measure the success of any attempt to reorganize 
the upper grades. Hand in hand with the development of a new 
point of view for the seventh and eighth grades should go a con- 
certed and intelligent effort (1) to insure better teaching and a 
more mature and permanent body of teachers for the middle 
grades, and (2) to formulate principles that shall serve to govern 
the instruction and training of children between eight and twelve, 
at least as satisfactorily as analogous principles are now governing 
the work of the primary grades and the work that has to do with 
the adolescent period.^ 

Fortunately for one planning a modification of elementary 
school work a general contribution has already been made in 

1 Elementary School Journal, vol. 17, pp. 89-105, 151-62. 

2 Bagley and Judd, Sc. Rev., vol. 26, p. 316. 



100 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

the several reports of the Committee on Minimum Essen- 
tials.^ A number of school systems have also laid down 
minimum requirements for the various grades, some of them 
so simple as to make it improbable that any teacher will 
consider them maximum requirements as well. Among 
these formulations may be mentioned, as prepared with 
especial care and given experimental sanction, that of the 
City of Boston. 2 

When minimum requirements for the elementary grades 
may be really counted on as possessed by all of the pupils, 
an intelligent program of courses of study for the junior 
high school may be devised — courses that are soundly 
based on the achievement of pupils and leading gradually 
toward the goals set up for the new organization. Any- 
thing less invites disappointment. 

. The traditional method of promoting pupils, "when they 
have successfully completed the work of the preceding 
grade," is still the practice in the majority of junior high 
schools. Here and there a principal voices dissatisfaction 
at the varied achievements of the pupils in the elementary 
grades and their consequent lack of preparation for doing 
the junior-high-school work as planned. Principal Wetzel, 
of Trenton, New Jersey, writes: 

1 cannot close my report without calling attention to the great 
need of similar coordination between the junior school and the 
first six grades. 

^ Part I of the Fourteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Year-Books of the 
National Society for the Study of Education. 

2 School Documents 11, 15, 16 (1915), 11 (1916), 18, 19 (1917). Pub- 
lished by the Boston Public Schools. See also Second Report of the Commit- 
tee on the Elimination of Subject-Matter, Iowa State Teachers' Association, 
1916. 



ORGANIZATION 101 

I know of no better way to bring this about than to establish 
definite standards of achievement in the common branches for 
the first six grades. Such standards are now available. Their 
adoption in Trenton would stress the kind of work which should 
be done in these grades. Little headway can be made in the 
junior school until this is done, especially in spelling, composition 
and reading, writing and arithmetic. Under writing I include 
the making of figures. 

Standardized tests in these fundamentals as accepted in the 
most progressive communities would keep in the lower grades 
many pupils that now come to the junior school. It is not the 
fault of the pupils. The fault is rather in the lack of a definite 
and limited program tested by accepted standards. All school 
experience shows that teachers will try to secure the results that 
are sought in tests. The New York Regents' system is a con- 
spicuous example. The establishment in Trenton of standard- 
ized tests in the subjects mentioned will do more to promote the 
junior-school program than any other one thing. Brown and 
Coffman {How to Teach Arithmetic, p. 92) say: "Under the influ- 
ence of the movement for the training of the higher rational proc- 
esses we are in great danger of failing to reduce to an automatic 
basis the skills formerly emphasized. The place primarily to 
reduce these skills to an automatic basis is in the first six grades. 

There are evidences that promotion is more and more 
coming to be made on the basis primarily of the individual 
pupiPs welfare. This means that promotion shall be made 
when it is likely for any reason to be for the pupil's benefit, 
whether he has "passed" in his preliminary work or not. 
One will sympathize with this principle in proportion as he 
is cognizant of the unreliability of teachers' marks. The 
Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education 
recommends ^ specifically "that secondary schools admit, 
and provide suitable instruction for, all pupils who are in 
any respect so mature that they would derive more benefit 
^ Report on Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education, page 19. 



102 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



»9 



from the secondary school than from the elementary school. 
Among other bodies that have made similar recommenda- 
tions is the New Jersey Comicil of Education. It recom- 
mended in 1914 that there should be admitted to the junior 
high schools (a) graduates of the sixth grade who shall follow 
academic, industrial, or domestic science, or commercial 
curricula, and (b) retarded pupils of twelve to fourteen years 
of age, who shall be arranged in classes taking such a com- 
bination of manual arts and academic work as seems best. 
The promotion to the junior high school of the average pupils 
is approved by teachers in the elementary grades because 
of the fact that it makes easier their problems of discipline 
and hence permits of better teaching for the normal pupils 
who remain. 

For some years pupils have been admitted to the Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin six-year high school if they possess the 
ability to read, write, and speak simple English with reason- 
able ease and accuracy, have good health, and are twelve 
years of age. Many other cities have made special provision 
for retarded pupils who, being discouraged with school tasks 
or strongly attracted by opportunities to work, were on the 
point of leaving. Among such cities may be mentioned 
Newton, Massachusetts, where adjustment classes in the 
Vocational High School succeeded in returning a few of these 
pupils to the regular academic curriculum, sent more to the 
Technical High School, transferred more still to the voca- 
tional curricula, and reported that they held nearly all the 
remainder for varying periods of time by means of work 
convincingly worth while and adjusted to individual needs. 
The possibilities in such work are in proportion to the will- 



ORGANIZATION ^103 

ingness of the school to abandon its traditional "standards*' 
and adjust its instruction to the individual pupil's needs and 
capacities. The discouragement felt by backward pupils 
when classed with others who, though perhaps their intel- 
lectual superiors, are in other respects from two to ten years 
younger, has not been generally and adequately recognized. 
One superintendent writes of this "promotion yer vim": 

It has permitted the boy who is over five feet six inches to say, " I 
am going to high school." They like to say that. It has shown 
these boys that all the school children in the city are not smaller 
than they. It has enabled them to walk the streets on the way 
to school with the fellows larger than themselves, not with the 
little ones. 

Douglass 1 points out that California and Vermont, at 
least, legally prescribe for admission to the junior high school 
the completion of the sixth grade. But in California this 
requirement is frequently ignored. The practice in Vermont 
will be illustrated by the following quotation ^ from Dr. 
Hillegas, the State Commissioner of Education: 

In a number of cases we have been bold enough to promote stu- 
pid boys and girls from as low as the fifth grade directly into the 
junior high school. Results have been most satisfactory. In one 
of the larger junior high schools considerable groups of such re- 
tarded and incompetent boys and girls were thus promoted. At 
the beginning of the second year new teachers in the school were 
unable to select the pupils thus advanced. 

A large part of the success of these irregular promotions 
is due, of course, to the provision of special work for the 
over-age pupils; but it must not be overlooked that there 
are at least three other causes : a mastery of the elementary 

* Fifteerdh Year-Book, p. 48, ^ Teachers College Record, vol. 19, p. 343. 



104. THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

work as usually prescribed is not invariably essential to the 
successful acquisition of all later offerings; pupils sometimes 
become estopped from normal progress by unfortunate per- 
sonal relations with teachers; and there is unquestionably a 
greater stimulus to the retarded pupils to work among other 
boys and girls of their own size and age. 

That there are in junior high schools numerous departures 
from the usual practice of promoting pupils only when they 
have "successfully completed" the sixth grade will be seen 
from the appended table. Of the 250 schools answering the 
question "Under what conditions, if any, do you admit 
pupils who have not completed grade VI? " 150, or 60 per 
cent, reply that they do under certain conditions admit 
pupils who are likely to profit by the junior-high-school 
work. It is interesting to record that two schools have 
measured the ability of entering pupils to do this work 
partly by standard psychological and educational tests. 

TABLE XV 
Conditions for Admission to 250 Junior High Schools 

Number Per cent 

Completion of grade 6 100 40 

Other conditions 150 60 

Maturity of pupil 5* 3 

Over-age 70 47 

Over-size 3 2 

Dull and over-age 5 3 

According to individual need 15 10 

On recommendation of superintendent, or former 

teacher or principal 15 10 

Probable ability to do work 23 15 

Conditioned 40 27 

* As some schools report more than one condition, these numbers total more than 150. 



ORGANIZATION 105 

The North Central Association has for several years ap- 
proved promotion on the basis of individual need; and Davis 
states that 

108 school systems, or 36.9 per cent of the entire 293 which made 
reports, do admit pupils to the junior-high-school privileges before 
completing the sixth grade. In other words, these schools base pro- 
motion on physical development and chronological age, as well as 
on intellectual attainments of a fixed conventional type.^ 



TABLE XVI 

Provisions made in 161 Junior High Schools for Pupils 
irregularly promoted 
Kinci Number of schooltf 

Special room and teacher 7 

Opportunity rooms 1 

Batavia work in weak subjects 4 

Pupils elect from program of studies 4 

Work depending on ability 48 

Vocational (industrial) work 20 

Prevocational work ^ 

Manual training or domestic science 25 

One or more fewer subjects 6 

General except foreign language 1 

Electives and extras omitted 2 

Partly ungraded * 

Sciences ^ 

Civics • • • ^ 

English ^ 

Mathematics ^ 

General literary •*^ 

Commercial 

No special work • ^ * 

No provision made ^ 

Total 161 



1 



School Review, vol. 26, pp. 330-31. 



106 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

One hundred and sixty-one schools reported what provi- 
sion they made for the pupils irregularly promoted from the 
elementary grades. It will be seen from the table that there 
is a strong tendency to assign these pupils to such work as 
they can do and as is likely to be of most value to them. 
After a few years a study should be made of the effects of 
these various provisions. 

A problem found in various parts of the country is the 
disposition of pupils who come from rural or parochial 
schools with conventional programs into the junior high 
school with an enriched curriculum. These pupils as a rule 
have had no training in industrial or household arts, no for- 
eign language, and only formal English, arithmetic, history, 
or geography. If there be enough of these pupils entering 
any junior high school at the same time, the problem is 
easily solved by making of them one class with the usual 
ninth-grade program. When the number is smaller than 
that of a normal class, the pupils ordinarily are assigned in 
the school wherever the principal thinks they can work to 
the best advantage, omitting from their program such elec- 
tive work as they cannot profitably take. The practice of 
some schools of assigning these pupils to classes that have 
already continued a new subject for from two to four semes- 
ters is a sad commentary on the value attributed to that 
work by the principal or to his concern with the welfare of 
the new pupils. 

The percentages of pupils from eight-grade elementary 
schools and from parochial schools entering the ninth grade 
of 187 junior high schools are shown in the accompanying 
table. It appears that in more than half the schools the 



ORGANIZATION 107 

proportion is insignificant, but that in eighteen the propor- 
tion is more than a quarter of the entire ninth-grade enroll- 
ment. 

TABLE XVII 

Percentages of Ninth-Grade Pupils entering from 
Other Eight-Grade Schools 

Percentages Number of schools 

None 75 

Very few 7 

Less than one per cent 8 

1 to 9 per cent 44 

10 to 14 per cent 19 

15 to 19 per cent 6 

20 to 24 per cent 8 

25 to 29 per cent. 8 

30 to 34 per cent 1 

35 to 39 per cent 3 

60 to 64 per cent 3 

70 to 74 per cent 1 

75 to 79 per cent. 1 

85 to 89 per cent 1 

**A considerable number" 2 

Total 187 

The work assigned such pupils varies considerably. From 
the appended table it may be seen, however, that the effort 
in approximately one seventh of the schools is to provide for 
these pupils programs according to their needs and abilities; 
in the others there seems to be the old adjustment of the 
pupil rather than of the work. In fact, approximately one 
tenth of the schools provide a program which insures a loss 
of time for these pupils entering the ninth grade from outside 
schools. 



108 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

TABLE XVIII 

Work assigned Pupils entering the Ninth Grade of 
Junior High Schools from Other Elementary Schools 

Curriculum Number of schools 

Regular low eighth grade 1 

On trial in high eighth grade 1 

Some eighth-grade work 6 

Regular ninth grade 96 

Classes paralleling high-school work 2 

Elective 13 

Fitted in as well as possible 6 

Special classes 2 

Depends on pupil 2 

Work necessary to enter high-school course 

Half-year of general science 

Two years of foreign language 

Work they have not had 

No foreign language, science, or manual arts 

Vocational as far as possible 

Agriculture or domestic science 2 

No provisions made 3 

Total lib 

Superintendent Foster, of Dansville, New York, has the 
problem of classifying in his junior high school entrants from 
parochial schools in his city. He writes: 

. . . Two years ago we overcame this difficulty to a large degree 
by making arrangements with the pastors of the two parochial 
schools to have their eighth-year students sent to our school the 
last three fourths of an hour in the forenoon to receive the special 
work of our junior high school. At conferences of the neighboring 
rural-school teachers which the district superintendent held in our 
school, we explained to the teachers the situation and urged them to 
have their students come to our school for at least the eighth year. 
The response has been so general that but four students entering 
our senior high school this year lacked any of the junior high- 
school work. The result of the arrangement with the parochial 



ORGANIZATION 109 

schools is that the wide gap between them and the senior high 
school has been bridged. The parochial student has become used 
to the high school and has learned to like it; hence he continues 
his work in high school. 

The articulation in methods of instruction should be as 
carefully prepared as that in subject-matter. The methods 
used in high schools on the whole differ rather markedly 
from those most common in the grades, and it would mani- 
festly be unwise to have them introduced abruptly at the 
beginning of the seventh year. All experienced and success- 
ful teachers tend to adjust themselves to the needs of new 
and different groups of pupils, however, especially if by 
means of supervision they have been led to instruct pupils 
rather than merely to impart facts regardless of the use that 
will be made of them. It is especially important that they 
make this adjustment in the junior high school, where the 
emphasis has, at least in theory, been laid on satisfying the 
needs of the individual pupil. Observation of many classes 
in some sixty junior high schools leads to the conclusion 
that generally speaking the instruction is better adapted to 
the pupils than it is in the first year of high schools, but that 
the adaptation has come largely through the skill of the 
teachers selected rather than through the systematic appli- 
cation of a clearly stated theory. 

The project-method of teaching, as proposed by Dewey ' 
and by Kilpatrick,^ and as increasingly used in the lower 
grades, was found to be approved by most of the principals 
and by many of the teachers with whom the matter was dis- 
cussed; but, as in the high schools, there is lacking the con- 

1 How We Think, '^ / "^ Teachers College Record, vol. 19, pp. 319-35, 



110 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

stant, time-consuming supervision that is necessary for suc- 
cessful performance. It can be safely asserted, however, 
that more project teaching may be found to-day in the junior 
high schools than in any higher institutions except the grad- 
uate law schools. The project teaching in the Vermont 
junior high schools may be cited as illustrative of what may 
be achieved by professional supervision of young teachers. 
The socialized recitation, too, is frequently found. It was 
admirably developed in Lincoln, Nebraska, by Superintend- 
ent Fred M. Hunter and his assistants, and has been con- 
tinued and developed under Superintendent Newlon. 

Departmentalization, which in some degree is common to 
nearly all junior high schools, is likely to exert a strong influ- 
ence on teaching. It would seem to be a seK-evident fact 
that a sudden change to full departmental teaching at the 
beginning of the seventh grade would be a violation of the 
principle of articulation. Certainly any bad effects of sud- 
den departmentalization at the beginning of the ninth grade 
are likely to be worse if introduced two years earlier. The 
conclusion is forced upon us that departmentalization in 
the jimior high school, like other changes in teaching, should 
be gradual. The argument is strong, too, that a number of 
the teachers in the new type of transitional school should 
be recruited from the intermediate or grammar grades of 
the elementary school. To what extent this is done will 
be reported later. ^ 

A third phase in which articulation with the elementary 
grades is desirable is that of social control. Here perhaps 
the greatest success is manifested. The junior high school 

* Chapter vni. 



ORGANIZATION 111 

very generally has recognized that young pupils changing 
from the constant oversight of one teacher to a departmental 
organization need some particular and personal direction, 
and have provided for this in a variety of ways.i i^ gome 
schools the pupils are introduced gradually to the larger 
freedom of the high school. In Ellenville, New York, the 
pupils when they come from the sixth grades are assigned to 
two small study-rooms, seating about forty-five pupils each 

the girls in one, the boys in the other. Here they remain 

one year before being transferred to the large common study 
hall. Superintendent Farmer, of Renville, Minnesota, 
where the pupils in grades 7-8 are segregated from those in 
grade 9, writes: 

If conditions had made it possible, I would have placed all the 
pupils of the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades in one assembly 
room under the principal. Our assembly room was not large 
enough for that; so we placed the seventh grade in one room under 
the immediate charge of the assistant principal and the eighth 
and ninth grades in another assembly room (just across the hall) 
in charge of the principal. I now believe that is the ideal way to 
arrange this, for several reasons. (1) It makes the change from 
the conditions under which the pupils have formerly worked in the 
grades to the high school conditions, more gradual. I refer to the 
change to departmental work in their studies and the new condi- 
tions which such a change brings about. (2) It retains these pupils 
a little longer under the more personal care of one teacher, a con- 
dition which I believe should continue through this stage of the chil- 
dren's development. These pupils pass to the shop, sewing-room, 
and to the other assembly rooms for some of their work and other 
teachers come to them for some, but they feel that they have their 
own room and their own teacher to whom they are responsible. 
They join with the other two grades in many general exercises. 
(3) It provides for a sort of system of promoting good teachers 

* See chapter x. 



112 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

through several positions and thus retains them in the system longer. 
They can advance from the assistant principalship of the junior high 
school, to the principalship of that school, and from there to the 
principalship of the senior high school. This has been done here. 

In Grand Rapids, Michigan, one or two rooms are pro- 
vided for the pupils who cannot adjust themselves readily 
to their new privileges and responsibilities. In these rooms 
they have all of their work under a single teacher until they 
manifest their willingness and ability to participate in the 
general plan of the school. The many plans used for social 
control are evidence of the recognition of the responsibility 
the school has in this matter; and when responsibility is 
acknowledged for a problem of this kind, the schools are 
very likely to work out satisfactory solutions. 

It is often asserted that the removal of the grammar- 
grade pupils from the elementary school makes the work 
there, easier, since the purposes are less complex and the 
problem of discipline is lessened. Superintendent Giles, of 
Richmond, Indiana, where a form of the junior high school 
has been established for a number of years, summarizes ^ 
the opinions of his teachers as to the effect on the first six 
grades as follows: 

Principals and teachers agree that the problem of administra- 
tion of the school, so far as discipline, supervision, elimination, and 
the curriculum are concerned, is much simplified where the seventh 
and eighth grades are not present. On the more vital ques- 
tion of the educational effect of older children associating with the 
younger, the decision still lies with segregation, unless there should 
be reorganization along the lines of the Gary plan. . . . Public- 
school sentiment in Richmond favors segregation. 

} Editcational Administration and Supervision, vol. 3, p. 274. 



ORGANIZATION 113 

District Superintendent Taylor, of New York City, points 
out 1 an effect of the junior high school on the abbreviated 
elementary schools, an effect which so far as it prevails is 
likely to be found only in the larger cities. He states that 
in New York "many progressive teachers avoid" the six- 
year elementary school, "since they know that, to secure 
the higher salaries" paid to teachers with special licenses to 
teach in the seventh and eighth grades, "they will have to 
go elsewhere. Principals also shun such schools. . . . New 
teachers refuse to go to these schools." It has also been 
argued that it is unfair to take from the elementary schools 
the best and more ambitious teachers to make junior high 
schools successful. To remedy such conditions among 
others, Bagley proposes that aU teachers in public schools 
be similarly trained and similarly paid. 

C. Relation to the Senior High School 
When the junior high school is discussed, some one almost 
invariably makes a prophecy that its establishment will open 
a gap in the school system between the ninth and tenth 
grades. This prophecy has to an extent been fulfilled, 
especially in cities where the junior and senior high schools 
are in separate buildings and under different management. 
The fact that the gap is, or may be, moved upward one year 
is to the credit of the junior high school; but it is highly 
desirable that there be as few interruptions as possible to 
the progress of those fortunate pupils who can go forward 
for further study. 

The gap between junior and senior high schools is not a 
1 New York Globe and Commercial Advertiser, February 15, 1918» 



114 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

necessity inherent in the new organization; it is caused pri- 
marily by a failure on the part of the administration to 
secure an understanding by the teachers of the proper rela- 
tions between the two institutions. In so far as the junior 
high school gives the final education to pupils going prema- 
turely to work, it has no relations with the senior school; 
in so far as it sends its pupils on for advanced study, it as- 
sumes and demands obligations, which must be clearly seen 
to be fulfilled. The gap may be minimized if the schools 
articulate with respect to plans for admission to the senior 
high school, distribution of subject-matter, transition in 
methods of teaching, and in social control. 

About the method of admission of junior-high-school 
pupils into the senior high school we find a contest similar 
to that which has existed between the high school and the 
college for years past. The junior institution demands the 
right "to do what is best" for its pupils and at the end of 
its curriculum send them into the higher school without 
examination; the senior institution to a degree admits this 
right providing that it may designate the studies of the lower 
school, approve its work by inspection, and reject its gradu- 
ates if they cannot satisfactorily do the advanced work. But 
so far machinery has seldom been provided the higher 
school either for supervising the junior-high-school work or 
even for knowing definitely and fully what it is. If the 
program of exploration, proposed in chapter ii, is accepted 
for the junior high school, the senior institution will receive 
its pupils already intelligently segregated for its curricula, 
and thus will be enabled to make a better contribution than 
formerly to each group. If such a program is not accepted. 



ORGANIZATION 115 

we shall probably have the contest between the two schools 
still further accentuated. 

In 1918 the North Central Association voted to recom- 
mend the following admission requirements for the senior 
high school: 

a. All pupils who complete the work of the junior high school 
should be admitted to the senior high school. 

h. Pupils who have spent two years in the junior high school 
and have shown superior ability both as to quality of the 
work done and the quantity accomplished, should be ad- 
mitted to the senior high school. 

c. Over-age pupils who have not completed the junior high 
school should be admitted to the senior high school if it 
appears that their educational needs can be better met in 
the senior high school. 

Under conditions as they have developed, 114 of the 284 
junior high schools answering the question regarding admis- 
sion, give a final examination to pupils before promoting 
them to the senior high schools. It is probable that some 
principals returning the questionnaire had in mind the regu- 
lar term examinations and that therefore the per cent of 
schools setting a formal final examination is really smaller 
than forty. There is just as much reason for giving a final 
comprehensive examination at the end of the junior high 
school as at any other period; but there is no evidence that 
such an examination is more necessary here than elsewhere. 
If the junior high school should have a final comprehensive 
examination, so should the senior high school and the college. 

Formal graduation from schools is said by some to aid 
retention up to the end of the course, but to facilitate elimi- 
nation before a new course in a new school begins. In so 



116 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

far as this is true, graduating exercises would be good for 
those pupils who are leaving school early for work and bad 
for those who are uncertain about continuing in school for 
advanced study. Of the 279 junior high schools reporting 
on this item, 126, or 45.2 per cent, emphasize the completion 
of their curricula by holding graduation exercises. In the 
North Central territory, according to Davis, completion of 
the curricula is much less frequently so emphasized; the 
Springfield study found that 36 per cent of 81 junior high 
schools hold some sort of graduation exercises. 

So far as is known every high school receives, on the 
recommendation of the junior high school, pupils who have 
completed one of the intermediate curricula. Difficulties 
occur when a pupil is promoted with a failure in some sub- 
ject that he desires to continue, when he claims advanced 
credit, or when by trial he proves unable to continue satis- 
factorily the high-school work that he elects or to which he 
is assigned. 

If the senior high schools had strictly three-year curricula, 
it would prove embarrassing for pupils who on entrance 
needed one or more courses which they might have taken 
in the junior school. (The colleges frequently complain of 
the necessity of offering beginning courses in modem foreign 
languages for students who did not elect French, German, 
or Spanish in high school.) But many senior high schools 
that are separated from the one or more contributing junior 
high schools have a number of ninth-grade pupils; conse- 
quently it is not difficult for them to arrange a program for a 
pupil who, classified in the tenth grade or higher, needs a 
ninth-grade subject. To the question, "Does the senior 



ORGANIZATION 117 

high school offer classes in all elementary subjects that a 
promoted student may have failed to pass? " there were 138 
answers from places where the junior and senior schools are 
in separate buildings. Thirty-one, or 22.5 per cent, are 
reported as offering all such elementary courses; but 78, or 
58 per cent, do not offer any of the ninth-grade work at all. 
The remaining schools seem to offer such courses as are most 
needed. 

Almost all the senior high schools unquestioningly accept 
the junior high-school recommendations for advanced credit. 
Of 262 schools that reported on this topic, only 16, or 6 per 
cent, say that their recommendations are not approved. 
There is no reason to believe that this proportion is larger 
among the schools that did not report — most of them, 
probably, because the issue had not yet been raised. 

The amount of advanced credit carried to the high school 
is not large — usually, I estimate, about two units in addi- 
tion to the four normally earned in the ninth grade. As 
a rule one year's high-school credit is given for secondary 
subjects successfully taken in both the seventh and eighth 
grades. This proportion seems to have been arrived at by 
computing the total amount of time given to these subjects 
and by making allowance for the immaturity of the pupils 
rather than by measuring their achievements. As more 
satisfactory tests are devised for the secondary-school sub- 
jects, standard achievements are likely to be generally de- 
manded. In such subjects as mathematics and Latin it is 
entirely feasible to set up such standards at the present time. 
Occasionally credit is given in high school according to the 
mark earned by the pupil in his previous study of a subject. 



118 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



In Cleveland, for instance, pupils who earned in the grammar 
grades a mark of 75 to 100 in German were advanced in that 
subject to the third-term class; those who earned 60 to 74 
were advanced one term; and the others began German over 
again. Table XIX shows the credits assigned in Los 
Angeles to secondary-school subjects taken in the inter- 
mediate schools: 

TABLE XIX 
High-School Credits for Junior-High-School Work 



Subject 



Algebra 

Ancient history 

Bookkeeping 

Commercial arithmetic . . 

Cookery 

Enghsh 

Freehand drawing 

French 

Geometry 

German 

Latin 

Mechanical drawing . . . . 

Music 

Glee club or orchestra. . . 

Oral English 

Penmanship 

Physiography 

Sewing 

Spanish 

Stenography 

Woodwork 



Loiv 
VII 



High 
VII 



Loio 
VIII 



High 
VIII 



Low 
IX 



High 
IX 



Credit for outside work is occasionally allowed, thus 
advancing a pupil toward graduation. There are a number 
of cities — for instance, Lewiston, Idaho — that have pre- 
pared rules and a syllabus for music studied under private 



ORGANIZATION 119 

teacliers; and several reports state that if provisions are 
definitely made beforehand for this credit, the plan has 
worked very satisfactorily. 

The articulation of subject-matter has been attempted 
chiefly by introducing into the seventh and eighth grades, 
usually as electives, foreign languages, English composition 
and "classics," commercial courses, shop- work for boys and 
household arts for girls, with, less frequently, general science 
and composite mathematics. As textbooks in these subjects 
had not up to 1916 been satisfactorily prepared for pupils 
of twelve to fourteen years of age, the junior high schools 
were under a serious handicap, which was materially in- 
creased by the paucity of adequately trained teachers. 
Pioneering in education, no less than in other fields, requires 
tmusual ability and time, and seldom were the junior-high- 
school teachers given light schedules so that they might 
adapt to the needs of young pupils courses worked out for 
older ones. The achievement is a tribute to the ingenuity, 
resourcefulness, and energy of those teachers who without 
adequate preparation or time, but inspired with an ideal, 
attempted, usually with little or no direction, the adaptation 
of material. Frequently in newly established junior high 
schools an individual teacher was found who despite obsta- 
cles was doing most satisfactory pioneer work, but seldom 
was there evidence that through careful planning the whole 
corps had adapted material to the younger pupils or even 
understood the fundamental principles by which they 
should attempt the task. The responsibility for this failure 
in most cases should be laid on the superintendent of schools, 
who usually excuses himself on the grounds of cost. This 



120 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

unfortunate situation has considerably improved since 1916. 
Several States — notably New York and Vermont — and a 
number of cities — for example, Rochester, Boston, Grand 
Rapids, and Neodesha — have prepared syllabi for the 
various subjects taught in the junior high school. 

In the future the articulation of the junior with the 
senior high schools in respect to subject-matter is likely to 
be made considerably closer by the textbooks that are now 
being prepared in considerable numbers for the younger 
pupils. The danger, of course, is that many of these books 
will be slight adaptations of older texts that have been used 
in the conventional grammar grades and in the high schools, 
and that the revision will not be based on clear and sound 
conceptions of what the junior high school is intended to 
accomplish. But a study of the texts issued shows distinct 
improvement; they are on the whole more progressive than 
texts prepared for any other grade of pupils. 

When satisfactory courses in the various subjects of 
secondary education have been worked out for the junior 
high schools, it will be necessary for the senior high schools 
to make corresponding adjustments in their courses in these 
subjects. This they have not yet done. What kind of work 
and how much, for instance, will be offered to pupils who 
are promoted to the tenth grade with two years' sound credit 
in a foreign language? Will this class of pupils stimulate 
the upward extension of the high school into a junior col- 
lege? Will they be given the conventional amount of the 
subject and fill their programs with other electives? Or will 
they be graduated from the senior high school at an earliel? 
age? There are many similar questions that must be an* 



ORGANIZATION 121 

swered in the preparation of a program that will promise a 
close articulation of all the units of our educational system. i 

The articulation of junior and senior schools by means of 
adjustments in methods of teaching seems to have in it great 
possibilities; and in the majority of classes visited there was 
used a method intermediate between that of the more ele- 
mentary grades and that of the senior high school. In 
most instances, however, the modification of method was 
apparently due more to the common-sense adjustment of a 
teacher to the needs of the type of pupils with whom he was 
constantly thrown and to the circumstances of departmental- 
ization than to any consciousness of a program of articula- 
tion. Perhaps this is altogether as it should be. Usually 
on visiting a class it was not difficult to guess whether the 
teacher's previous experience had been in higher or in lower 
grades, for whatever adjustment there is usually leaves 
much of the influence of former experience. Many junior 
high schools that are in the same buildings with elementary 
or with higher grades share the teachers; others are on the 
same campus, so that either pupils or teachers may go from 
building to building for work. In these cases teachers tend 
to continue the type of method throughout their work, 
differing in their degrees of adaptability. Youngstown, 
Ohio, is said to have coordinating teachers, and the plan 
used at Rochester tends to unify the methods of teaching. 2 

Two hundred and fifteen junior high schools answered the 
question^ "In what per cent of the subjects is there active 

1 For data concerning the continuance of subjects elected in the junior 
high school, see chapter xiii. 

2 Seepage 123 f. 



122 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

supervision by a representative of the senior high school?'* 
In 131, or 60.9 per cent, there is no such supervision; in 20, 
or 9.3 per cent, the supervision is in fewer than half the sub- 
jects; in 42, or 19.5 per cent, it is in more than haK; in 19 it is 
in "a few subjects," and in three it is in foreign languages 
only. 

Davis reports that in the 293 North Central junior high 
schools 27 per cent have supervision by the superintendent 
alone, 57 per cent by the junior high-school principal, 24.6 
per cent by the senior high-school principal, and 6.5 per cent 
by "others." As the total percentage is considerably over 
100, it is evident that a number of the schools — how many 
we are not told — have supervision by more than one 
official. The Springfield study reports that teaching is 
supervised by the junior-high-school principal in 58 cases, 
by the senior- high-school principal in 17, by the superintend- 
ent or his assistant in 60, by the heads of senior-high-school 
departments in 8, by the heads of junior-high-school de- 
partments in 11, and by general supervisors of elementary 
and junior high schools in 25. As the report does not state 
how many of the 88 schools questioned — six of them having 
the 6-6 plan — returned answers to this item, the figures 
cannot be turned into percentages. 

It cannot be claimed that practice in the matter of articu- 
lating the junior and senior schools by means of supervision 
is satisfactory. The junior high school has one obligation 
to pupils who will not continue their education further, and 
with its program and practice for these pupils the senior 
high school has only a fraternal concern; it has another 
obligation when it undertakes to sort pupils and prepare 



ORGANIZATION 123 

them to pursue satisfactorily the courses offered by the 
higher institution, and with its program and practice for 
these pupils the high school has or should have a direct 
responsibility. It may be that the junior high school should 
adapt its courses to the curricula for which it prepares; it 
may be that the senior high school should modify its courses 
to complement the earlier work: it is more probable, how- 
ever, that each school should make some changes so as to 
secure the desired satisfactory articulation. This is likely 
to result only from definite provisions for extended confer- 
ences and constant supervision, which though costly in time 
and money are certain to be educationally economical. 

The relation between the social control of pupils in the 
junior high school and that in the senior high school is close. 
By and large, junior high schools tend to give to their pupils 
a better and more gradual increase in self-control and in 
extra-curricular activities, and therefore senior high schools 
have a basis on which to build when the pupils are promoted. 
As will be shown elsewhere, the relations in this respect be- 
tween the intermediate and the high school are more satis- 
factory on the whole than those between the intermediate 
and the elementary school. 

Rochester, New York, is conspicuous for its careful plan- 
ning for its junior high schools and their articulation with 
the elementary and higher grades. For a year before the 
establishment of the Washington Junior High School Satur- 
day classes were held for the training of teachers who were 
candidates for positions in the new school. Many of those 
who were selected attended during the summer some college 
or university for further preparation. The Washington 



124 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

Junior High School was assigned two principals who had 
had successful experience in elementary schools, one for 
general administration and one for working out with the 
teachers courses of study and for the supervision of instruc- 
tion. In addition, from the two high schools heads of the 
departments of English, modern foreign languages, Latin, 
mathematics, and science were assigned to the junior high 
school for about half their time, to supervise the instruction 
and to work with the teachers in developing courses of study 
consonant with the aims of the school and suitable to the 
capacities of the pupils. To acquire an appreciation of the 
problems these heads of departments also taught one or 
more of the classes. One assistant superintendent and the 
supervisors of industrial work also gave much time to the 
school. This program was, of course, expensive in the 
amount of money required, but it was at the same time 
educationally economical in that it resulted in carefully pre- 
pared courses in all of the subjects of study and a corps of 
teachers trained to understand the fundamental purposes of 
the school and to administer the courses. These courses 
are now ready for the new junior high schools to be built, 
and from the corps teachers may be drawn to form the 
nuclei in the new schools. 

An illustration of a very different type of "economical 
program," unfortunately far more typical in the establish- 
ment of junior high schools, is that followed by one of our 
largest cities. Several junior high schools were established 
almost overnight, chiefly through the insistence of ambitious 
elementary-school principals that they be allowed to add a 
ninth grade in their buildings, partly "to provide for the 



ORGANIZATION 125 

pupils of the neighborhood " and partly "to relieve the over- 
crowded high schools." The assistant superintendent in 
charge, being more than busy with another important phase 
of the school system, had little time to give to the so-called 
** junior high schools." Each principal, with or without the 
cooperation of his teachers, prepared for his school curricula, 
which were pro forma approved by the superintendent in 
charge. The courses of study were largely left to the indi- 
vidual teachers, who too frequently attempted merely to 
follow texts prepared for older pupils. Teachers or princi- 
pals on their own initiative sought the advice of the high 
schools, but there was no serious attempt made to postulate 
and popularize fundamental principles for the junior high- 
school work, to develop and coordinate the courses, to ex- 
tend to other schools practice proved successful in any one, 
or to articulate the work with that of the higher receiving 
schools. Moreover, the teachers assigned to the ninth- 
grade work all had to be drawn from those already in charge 
of seventh- and eighth-grade classes, regardless of the ade- 
quacy of their training in the subjects assigned them. In 
one instance a teacher undertook a subject that she had not 
studied for more than a quarter of a century. It will occa- 
sion no surprise when we learn that pupils from these 
"junior high schools made poor records when given a central 
examination or when they were transferred to the tenth 
grade." But in spite of these handicaps, the junior high 
schools seem to have succeeded in this city in developing a 
desirable esprit de corps, in holding pupils, and in inspiring 
them to greater ambition. The experience of the past few 
years should convince this city as well as others of the econ- 



126 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

omy of an initial expense for overhead to provide adequately 
a program that will lead to a satisfactory articulation with 
the senior high school and with the demands of the outside 
world. 



CHAPTER V 
SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

A. Departmental Teaching 
The arguments concerning departmental teaching have been 
collected from a number of sources and set down below in a 
rough apposition of the positive and negative. This display 
is more or less academic, however, as the great majority of 
schools recognized as "progressive" have already accepted 
some form of departmentalization for the upper grades; in 
fact, in order to secure for pupils such advantages as these 
schools attempt to provide, it is an absolute necessity. The 
only real questions to-day are how far down in the grades it 
should extend and how gradually it should be introduced. 

Arguments for Arguments against 

I. Concerning the administration 

1. As special equipment and illus- 1. It increases the difficulty of 
trative matter are needed only organization and administration, 
for rooms in which the subjects especially as regards the making 
demanding them are taught, of the program of recitations. 
money is saved which may be 

expended for more and better 
equipment. 

2. It makes possible the use of spe- 2. The program cannot be altered 
ciai teachers — of music, for ex- to provide extra time for unusu- 
ample — without disrupting the ally difficult lessons, 
program or causing the regular 

teacher to be idle. 

3. It tends to guarantee to each sub- 
ject the time assigned to it in the 
program. 



128 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



4. It enables the supervisor to fix 
the responsibility for the work 
accomplished in a subject. 



5. It facilitates the promotion of 
pupils by subjects. 

6. It facilitates the special promo- 
tion or demotion of an individual 
pupil according to his need. 

7. It simplifies and makes more 
effective the task of supervision. 

8. It tends to lessen the gap be- 
tween the elementary school and 
the high school. 



3. It makes more difficult the task 
of placing responsibility for poor 
teaching. 

4. It results in confusion in detain- 
ing pupils after school, unless it 
is agreed that each department 
may detain on only one after- 
noon each week. 

5. In the departmental system 
marks are not proportionately 
coordinated. 

6. Uncoordinated teachers tend to 
overwork the pupils. 



II. Concerning the teaching 



9. It attracts better prepared 
teachers to work in the grades. 

10. It enables a teacher to make 
more thorough preparation, 
both generally and for each 
day's lessons. 

11. It stimulates interest and so en- 
courages preparation, both gen- 
eral and detailed. 

12. It results in economy of prepa- 
ration, in that all teachers do 
not have to prepare in all sub- 
jects. 

13. It enables a school to secure 
good teaching for all subjects. 

14. It results in greater interest by 
teachers and hence better work. 

15. Teachers are stimulated to bet- 
ter work by a knowledge that 
they are compared daily by the 
pupils with the other teachers. 

16. It prevents waste of time due to 
readjustments, useless reviews, 
lack of knowledge of quantity 
and quality of work previously 



7. It tends to make teachers nar- 
rowed specialists, interested in a 
special subject without reference 
to its interrelations. 

8. If exigencies demand that the de- 
partmental teacher teach some- 
thing other than his own subject, 
he will do it half-heartedly. 



SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 129 

done. (Note the assumption 
that the same departmental 
teacher has the pupils for two 
or more successive terms.) 



III. Concerning the pupils 



17. Variety of teachers with all 
their characteristics, of meth- 
ods, of rooms, and of general 
conditions, results in increased 
interest and consequently bet- 
ter work. 

18. The influence of an unusual 
teacher — unusually good or 
unusually bad — is not confined 
to a small group of pupils. 

19. Because of variety, physical re- 
lief through changing from room 
to room, better teaching and 
greater interest, the problem of 
discipline is lessened. 

20. Because greater responsibility 
is placed on pupils, they develop 
greater initiative and self-reli- 
ance. 

21. Children will be healthier as 
the school organization itself 
provides for frequent move- 
ment. 

22. A pupil will be understood bet- 
ter and hence receive better ad- 
vice concerning his social, edu- 
cational, and vocational needs, 
for — 

a. Among all his teachers a 
pupil is likely to find at least 
one who will understand him 
and to whom he will talk 
freely about himself; 

b. Contact with a pupil for two 
or more terms through one 
subject gives a teacher a bet- 
ter knowledge of that pupil 



9. Pupils are confused in adjusting 
themselves to several teachers. 



10. Confusion in changing classes 
and lack of definite responsibil- 
ity for a group of pupils by any 
teacher result in poor discipline. 

11. Pupils are too immature for the 
amount of responsibility and 
self -direction they must assume. 



12. The personal influence of the 
teacher is lost or dissipated. 

13. No one assumes responsibility 
for such matters as penmanship, 
spelling, oral expression, etc., 
and hence in them pupils do not 
improve as they should. 



130 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

than contact through all sub- 
jects for one term would; 
c. By means of frequent con- 
ferences all teachers of a pu- 
pil may pool their knowledge 
of him. 

23. A pupil is benefited by contact 
with the varying personal influ- 
ences exerted by several teach- 
ers, since this is most like the 
influences of life. 

IV. Concerning the curricula and courses of study 

24. It makes possible the expansion 14. The pure departmentalist is a 
and enrichment of the curricu- distinct hindrance to the con- 
lum and courses of study. struction of a rational curricu- 

25. It results in a greater degree of lum. 

coherence and unity in the 15. In a departmental system of 
course of study for each subject. teaching the correlation of sub- 

26. It enables the supervisor or jects is almost impossible, 
administrator to secure coher- 
ence and unity in the entire 

curriculum as well. 

One of the serious arguments against departmental teach- 
ing is that an individual pupil going from one teacher to 
another for recitations may not have sufficient personal 
attention. The evidence shows that this condition is likely 
to result, especially for a pupil who is not for some reason 
conspicuous, unless the departmental organization is sup- 
plemented by an adequate system of personal advisers. On 
the work of the advisers no less than on the administration 
of the principal, the success of the departmental organiza- 
tion seems to depend. Twenty- three, or 13.5 per cent of 
170 schools replying on this item report a tendency in 
departmentalization to lose track of the pupil. 

It has often been stated that one of the reasons why the 



SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 131 

gap exists between the elementary and the high schools is 
that in the latter full departmental teaching is abruptly 
begun. If this abrupt change is bad at the end of the eighth 
grade, it must be worse if introduced two years earlier, at 
the beginning of the junior-high-school period. The cure 
for a bad condition would seem to be the gradual introduc- 
tion of the desired or necessary departmental teaching, a 
beginning being made in the "special subjects" perhaps as 
early as the third grade, with an extension to the academic 
subjects in the seventh year. Full departmentalization is 
not likely to be necessary or whoUy desirable before the 
ninth grade. 

Many schools, when elementary or higher grades are 
housed with the intermediate grades, use departmental 
teachers to bind the lower and the higher units more closely 



Grade 


a § S ^ § ^ 
.^ 1 1 1 § 5 1 ^ ^ g a g 1 1 1 ■ 


X 


/ 


• 


' 






' 




IX 




' 










' 








viir 






K 


















VII 








' 








N 




^ 


- 


, 


VI 








' 








V 














IV 










' 




III 


' 








II 










I 


, 


^ 


t y 


, 



Fig. 2. Showing the Assignments of Teachers at Vinton, Iowa. 



132 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



together. An illustration of how this is effectual may be 
seen in the appended diagram, which shows the assignment 
of the teachers in the school at Vinton, Iowa. 

From Table XX it may be seen that among the junior 
high schools which report on this topic, some form of 
departmentalization is very general. This table is to be 
read: "Of the 196 junior high schools reporting on this 
topic, 9 have from one to 10 per cent of their teachers teach- 
ing one subject; 17 have from 11-20 per cent teaching one 



TABLE XX 
Showing the Number of Junior High Schools having Various 

PER CENTS of THEIR StAFFS TEACHING OnE, TwO, OR MoRE 

Subjects 



Per cents 


Teaching 


One subject 


Two subjects 


Three or more subjects 


1-10 


9 
17 
32 
29 
26 
16 
13 
30 
11 
13 

196 

41-50 


17 
36 
37 
29 
32 
14 
13 
15 
6 
8 

207 

31-40 


22 


11-20 

21-30..... 

31-40 , 

41-50 


16 

21 

9 

12 


51-60 

61-70 


11 

7 


71-80 

81-90. 


6 

2 


91-100 


21 


Total 

Median 


127 
31-40 







SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 133 

subject, etc. . * . Of the 207 schools reporting, 17 have 1-10 
per cent of their teachers teaching two subjects; etc.'* Al- 
though the figures in these columns are not comparable, 
because of the fact that the same number of principals 
did not answer all of the questions, they show clearly that 
the tendency is toward a large amount of departmental 
teaching. 

Davis found that of the 285 junior high schools in the 
17 States of the North Central Association, 97.26 per cent 
have some degree of departmental organization, and the 
Springfield Report found a similar percentage. 

Of the 256 principals expressing a preference, 132, or 51.6 
per cent, accept as ideal for grade 8 full departmentaliza- 
tion; while 124, or 48.4 per cent, prefer as an ideal partial 
departmentalization. The sharp difference in opinion is due 
largely, no doubt, to limited experience and to incomplete 
thinking on the elements involved. For the Springfield 
Report 66.2 per cent of the 74 principals replying prefer for 
the junior high school full departmentalization, 31.1 per cent 
prefer partial departmentalization, and two are uncertain. 

B. Individual Differences * 
The scientific study of education has contributed nothing 
that has had more influence in modifying both the organiza- 
tion and the practice of schools than the facts of individual 
differences of pupils. Common observation has always 
noted some differences, but science has shown that at any 
given school grade or at any given age these differences have 

^ For an exposition of individual differences, with a bibliography to 1914, 
see Thorndike's Educational Psychology, vol. in. 



134 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



an astounding range and that the distribution of degrees is 
in any large number of children practically always continu- 
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2 4 6 8. 10 12 14 16 18 

Fig. 3. Distribution by per cents Fig. 4. Number of Problems in 



OF 13-YEAR-OLD PuPlLa IN THE 

Schools of Six Cities. (Data 
FROM Inglis.) 



Arithmetic correctly solved 
BY Pupils of the Fourth (Solid 
Line) and Eighth (Dotted 
Line) Grades. (Courtis.) 



from the average of any trait or tendency, the fewer children 
we find. Science has also shown that there is a surprising 
overlapping of abilities and other characteristics from grade 
to grade or from age to age: for examples, thirteen-year-old 
children are found in every grade of some cities, from the 
kindergarten to the high school; there are in one grade pupils 



SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 135 

who can spell better, work arithmetic better, and in general 
do better school work than the average in grades one, two, 
or even more years advanced; in any grade pupils differ 
greatly in their ability to do what they have been taught. 
The extent of individual differences of two kinds may be 
seen from Figures 3 and 4. 

An analysis of individual differences at early adolescence 
shows that they are of many kinds — some due to nature 
and some to nurture. Briefly stated they are of race,^ sex,^ 
age, 2 physical development,^ health, intellectual inheritance 
and training,^ interests, tastes, and aptitudes, environment, 
family traditions, social and economic status,^ aspirations, 
probable future schooling,^ and command of the English 
language. In these differences science has shown that there 
is a positive, though by no means perfect, correlation of 
desirable traits — that is, we are more likely to find good 
intellect with good health, for example, than we are to find a 
compensating relation. 

^ See Mayo: The Mental Capacity- of the American Negro; Murdock: "A 
Study of Race Differences in New York City," School and Society, vol, 11, 
p. 147; Woodworth: "Racial Differences in Mental Traits," Science, vol. 
31, p. 171. 

2 See annotated bibliographies by H. B. Thompson and L. S. Holling- 
worth in Psychological Bulletin, 1914, '16, '18, '20; Thompson: Psychological 
Norms in Men and Women; and Terman : The Measurement of Intelligence, 

^ See any age-grade table in school reports, or Inglis : Principles of Sec- 
ondary Education, p. 5. 

^ Baldwin: Part i of the Fifteenth Y ear-Book of the National Society for the 
Study of Education; Inglis: Principles of Secondary Education, chap, i; and 
Crampton: American Physical Education Review, vol. 13, pp. 141, 214, 268, 
and 345. 

^ See Terman: The Intelligence of School Children, 

^ Van Denburg: Elimination of Students in Public Secondary Schools. 

' Almost one and a half million children between the ages of ten and 
fifteen are listed in the 1910 census as farm laborers. 



136 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

The ideal of the schools of a generation ago, and unfortu- 
nately of some even to-day, is by the same subjects and the 
same methods to make all pupils alike, with disastrous re- 
sults, it is now generally recognized, to those who deviated 
markedly from the group especially benefited. By and 
large, the ablest pupils were retarded, and the poorer ones 
were fed a pabulum that did them less good than was pos- 
sible while they remained in school and ultimately elimi- 
nated them from the number that received public-school 
training of any kind. 

From a mere reading of the list of kinds of individual 
differences it is obvious that some may be eradicated by 
training, that some cannot be materially modified by any 
means, and that some may be reduced or removed at a cost 
unjustifiable to society. Observation of school programs 
and work reveals that several of the differences are likely to 
become greater with the oncoming of adolescence and the 
increased possibilities in the subject-matter offered, and 
that teachers are as a rule insufficiently informed of the 
differences due to conditions of inheritance and outside 
influences. 

Because of the variations in policy, the following princi- 
ples are proposed for the intermediate school : first, it should 
systematically seek to ascertain the nature and extent of 
individual differences of its pupils; second, it should defi- 
nitely decide which of them from the point of view of public 
good it is reasonable to seek to reduce or destroy; third,- it 
should adopt a definite policy as to providing education 
suitable to those differences which it cannot by any reason- 
able expenditure of effort and money hope to eradicate; 



SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 137 

fourth, it should recognize that as a public school it owes to 
each pupil a similar amount of attention, regardless of differ- 
ences of various kinds. ^ 

One of the most important functions of the intermediate 
school is, after recognizing differences that remain after six 
or more years of schooling, to reveal to the pupils possibili- 
ties of various higher activities and more or less at the same 
time to start each individual on a curriculum that promises 
to be of most value to him and consequently to society. It 
has previously been pointed out that both the congregation 
of a larger number than usual of pupils of the same ages and 
general interests, and also the lack of traditions, make it 
easier for the junior high school than for any other institu- 
tion to provide for individual differences. The remainder 
of this section will present the means that have been pro- 
vided by schools to accomplish ends which differences of 
nature or of nurture make desirable.^ 

I. Differentiated curricula. Although the conception of 
a junior high school presented in chapter ii would make 
completely differentiated curricula a part of the program 
only of senior high schools or of more advanced institutions, 
many junior high schools have offered in the seventh grade 
a choice of electives or else curricula that contain combina- 
tions of subjects leading toward diverse ends. When these 
are offered to pupils whose various kinds of differences are 
unknown to the junior high-school teachers, there can be no 
wise guidance; and elections by pupils who are not ac- 
quainted with the subjects offered or who are uncertain as 

1 See also T. S. Henry: Classroom Problems in the Education of Gifted 
Children, part n of the Nineteenth Y ear-Book of the National Society for the 
Study of Education. 



138 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

to their futures usually result in choices that are influenced 
by factors other than the good of the individual or the profit 
of society. Two tendencies operate strongly under these 
conditions: one, to elect courses that are novel and "prac- 
tical," and the other to elect those that have a social sanc- 
tion. The result is that many pupils who should prepare 
for continued intellectual training choose the commercial, 
industrial arts, or agricultural curriculum, while others who 
by every evidence are likely soon to enter on gainful occupa- 
tions choose the college preparatory curriculum so as to 
remain in an envied social group. The results of full or 
even wide differentiation in the seventh grade reinforce the 
arguments for exploratory courses and a gradual diminution 
of common, integrating education. Exception is again made 
of the over-age pupils who are certain to leave school at or 
soon after the end of the compulsory education period. 
Illustrative of the wide differences in electives are the per* 
centages of choices by pupils at Los Angeles, California, and 
Somerville, Massachusetts, shown in Table XXI. 

TABLE XXI 

Per cent of Pupils Electing Several Curricula at 

Los Angeles and Somerville 

Curricula Los Angeles Somerville 

General 87. 6 44 

Commercial 10.0 40 

Vocational 2.4 16 

Ninety-three junior high schools provide curricula of 
which one third or more of the subjects are direct training 
for industrial work. Of 259 schools reporting to the New 
Jersey Council of Education ^ 27 per cent offer some differ- 

1 Unpublished study. 



SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 139 

entiation in grades 7 and 8; 24 per cent planned to offer 
some; and 32 per cent assert that they have real differentia- 
tion in curricula. Of the schools reporting in the North 
Central territory ^ 25.25 per cent allowed election by cur- 
ricula, and 48.46 per cent allowed election by subject. 

2* Promotion. A means generally used ^ to accommodate 
pupils who are uneven in their development is promotion 
by subject. This practice, which is almost universally ap- 
proved in theory, has in its application the obstacle of 
requiring a program that makes it possible for each pupil 
to be placed in the class where he should be. Consequently 
there are many compromises, usually adjustments being 
made in the subjects that are not considered by the principal 
to be of great importance. 

Double promotions are frequently used to effect a classifi- 
cation for bright pupils that are judged able to carry ad- 
vanced work. Although this practice jumps children over 
the work of a whole semester or even of a year, it is reported 
to be effective in such cities as Hackensack, New Jersey, and 
Wellesville, New York. That it is so argues that the work 
skipped is not of great importance or, more probably, that 
the pupils get it up for themselves outside the school or in 
the class reviews. Fishback has shown ^ that in the elemen- 
tary school pupils receiving double promotions have made 
quite as high marks afterward as they did before. Of 148 
junior high schools reporting on this item, 125, or 84.5 per 
cent, use double promotions to place pupils where they can 
work most effectively. 

* School Review, vol. 26, p. 328. 

* See page 152 ff. ,k - 3 Re^port of Superintendent, Hackensack, 1917. 



140 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

Irregular promotions are made in many schools — for 
instance, at Burlington (Vermont), Tacoma (Washington), 
Newton (Massachusetts), Lincoln (Nebraska), Solvay (New 
York), and in the junior high schools of Vermont — as pupils 
manifest ability to do advanced work. This practice pro- 
motes any pupil at any time when it seems that he may 
secure more profit from an advanced cla§s than from the one 
in which he is. Of 409 cities, 262, or 64.1 per cent, reported 
to Smith 1 that they use irregular promotions. 

Often promotion per vim has been made of pupils who, be- 
cause of absence, negligence of work due to other interests, 
or dislike of one or more teachers, had been marked as fail- 
ures in the subjects studied. The stimulus from being in a 
more congenial environment not infrequently has caused 
such pupils to catch up with advanced classes and to make 
satisfactory marks. This result was reported at Newton, 
Massachusetts, and at Burlington, Vermont. 

Occasionally irregular promotion into the junior high 
school has been of pupils who were dull, the hope being that 
association with boys and girls of similar age and subjects of 
greater interest would serve to hold such pupils in school 
longer and profit them more than the repetition of subjects 
from which they were receiving little. Commissioner Hille- 
gas, of Vermont, reports: ^ 

In a number of cases we have been bold enough to promote stu- 
pid boys and girls from as low as the fifth grade directly into the 
junior high school. Results have been most satisfactory. In one 
of the larger junior high schools considerable groups of such re- 

1 Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Conference on Educational Measure^ 
ments, Indiana University. 

2 Teachers College Record, vol. 19, p. 343, September, 1918. 



SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 141 

tarded and incompetent boys and girls were thus promoted. At 
the beginning of the second year new teachers in the school were 
unable to select the pupils thus advanced. 

Principal P. W. L. Cox reports similar results both at 
Solvay, New York, and at St. Louis, Missouri. At Lincoln, 
Nebraska, 97 of 225 retarded pupils were given trial promo- 
tions; of this number one failed because of lack of proper 
effort, but "all the teachers reported that the ninety-six 
were doing as well or better in the advanced grade than they 
would have done had they been kept in the grades where 
they were." On this topic, the Commission on the Reorgani- 
zation of Secondary Education recommends ^ " that second- 
ary schools admit, and provide suitable instruction for, all 
pupils who are in any respect so mature that they would 
derive more benefit from the secondary school than from the 
elementary school." 

These plans for irregular promotion are all intended to 
provide training most suitable to each pupil because of his 
individual differences. Whatever weaknesses there may be 
in the deviations from normal practice, they are certainly 
better than the old practice of retarding a bright pupil so 
that he receives less education than he should, and at the 
same time develops habits of indolence and mischief. They 
are better, too, than holding a pupil who is dull or a misfit 
for repetitions of such small value in surroundings so uncon- 
genial that he leaves school at the first opportunity and 
enters on work and citizenship for which he is by no means 
prepared. 

3. Tutoring. Special assistance is sometimes furnished 
* United States Bureau of Education Bulletin 35, 1918. 



142 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

to pupils who are being prepared for double promotion or to 
those who for one reason or another have fallen behind in 
their work. The old Batavia plan provided this assistance 
to all pupils in order to care for their individual differences 
and diflBculties. This plan has been adopted by a number 
of junior high schools, though in the majority of cases for the 
dull rather than for the bright pupils. It has been in use at 
the Boyle Heights Intermediate School (Los Angeles), the 
Sigsbee School (Grand Rapids), the Condon School (De- 
troit), and in Rochester (New York).^ 

Of 135 schools replying on this point, 107, or 80 per cent, 
report that they provide some tutoring for backward pupils. 
There is reason to suspect, however, that among the 107 
are some that give this assistance merely during the super- 
vised study periods. 

There are four means for providing this special assistance: 
first, the regular classroom teacher helps pupils with their 
difficulties, either during a supervised study period or at a 
regular conference hour; second — a variation of the first — 
teachers excuse for one period a week those pupils who mani- 
fest superior ability, giving them supplementary assign- 
ments, and devote the period to further explanation and 
drill for those who need assistance; third, a "Batavia 
teacher" takes such pupils for extra work, as at Boyle 
Heights or the Horace Mann School for Boys; and, fourth, 
the ablest pupils axe assigned as helpers to those who are in 
need of assistance. This plan, which was used for several 
years at the Speyer Junior High School, New York, is effec- 
tive, for the following reasons: pupils are more wiUing to 
^ See School Review^ vol. 28, p. 195. 



SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 143 

reveal the fullness of their ignorance to their fellows than 
to teachers who have already attempted to present the sub- 
ject and who hold the power of assigning marks; the helping 
pupil has the point of view of those in difficulty and usually 
can give sufficient time for making clear the points that 
cause trouble; it is an effective means of socializing the 
school; and, finally, it is of no inconsiderable value in clari- 
fying and " stamping in " knowledge and skills for the pupils 
assigned as tutors. 

4. Abnormal number of subjects. It has long been the 
practice, especially in schools that have promotion by sub- 
ject, to permit the abler pupils to carry one or even two 
subjects more than the normal number, and to require 
the weaker to take one or two fewer. This plan is in sharp 
contrast to the other, which is unfortunately also common, 
stated by a junior-high-school principal as follows, "The 
failing pupil must in the following semester take the normal 
program and in addition the subject or subjects in which he 
has failed." Unpublished studies show that bright and 
industrious pupils can carry such extra load with no material 
reduction in marks, and that the dull or lazy pupils, unless 
they receive careful individual attention, do scarcely better 
with a lighter program than they did with the normal amount 
of work. 

For many years the State of New York has encouraged 
an element of junior-high-school work in that it permitted 
the abler pupils in the eighth grade to take one or two 
secondary-school subjects. Clinton, Iowa, has allowed 
bright pupils in its junior high school who have completed 
the seventh grade to substitute Latin for English grammar 



144 THE JtJNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

and algebra for arithmetic. And many cities — among 
them Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, Butte, Paducah, Evans- 
ville, Chanute, Santa Rosa, and Burlington — have ad- 
justed the size of junior-high-school pupils' programs accord- 
ing to their abilities. It is, according to Smith, ^ the second 
most common means of providing for individual differences. 

Of 198 junior high schools replying on this topic, 183, or 
92A per cent, permit the abler pupils to take one or two 
additional subjects, and 180, or 91.0 per cent, require failing 
pupils to take a program lighter than the normal. 

5. Credit for outside work. Many pupils in junior high 
schools supplement their regular studies by work with pri- 
vate teachers, and in evening or summer schools. Outside 
study of music is most common; and when there are care- 
fully prepared courses of study, supervision, and an examina- 
tion by the school, there is no good reason why a limited 
amount of credit toward graduation should not be granted 
for it. Several schools report that such a plan has worked 
satisfactorily. A few schools give credit for similarly con- 
trolled outside study- of the Bible. Evening-school study 
at the same time that pupils attend day school seems un- 
reasonable, and is reported by a negligible number of cities. 
Summer schools, supplementing the work of the regular ses- 
sion, is reported by Smith ^ as the most popular means of 
providing for individual pupils an opportunity to make up 
failed subjects or to advance more rapidly than would other- 
wise be possible. Summer schools have usually been estab- 
lished to afford an opportunity for pupils to make up work 

1 Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Conference on Educational Measure- 
ments. Indiana University. 
' Loc. cit. 



SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 145 

in which they have failed, but it is not unusual to find the 
enrollment largely made up of the able who are ambitious to 
accelerate their progress through school. Briggs reports ^ 
that at Los Angeles intermediate-school pupils elect and 
receive credit for more summer-school courses than do pupils 
from corresponding grades of the older organization. 

Of 409 schools reporting to Smith on this topic, 141, or 
34.5 per cent, give credit for outside work, while only 67, 
or 16.4 per cent, give credit for evening-school courses; 207, 
or 66 per cent, offer and give credit for summer-school 
courses. Of 177 junior high schools reporting for this study, 
53, or 30 per cent, give credit for outside vocational work. 
It is probable that many others would do so if a request 
were made. 

6. Extra hours. The brevity of the school day in many 
schools makes it possible for pupils to do extra work either 
early in the morning or after adjournment in the afternoon. 
It is probable that some schools provide opportunity for 
additional periods of study and instruction for backward 
pupils, but none such have been reported. Oakland, Cali- 
fornia, however, for several years offered for ambitious 
pupils foreign language and commercial courses before the 
regular school work began in the morning. Superintendent 
Barker reported the plan successful both educationally and 
economically. The University of California School ^ is 
open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. "to afford opportunities for pupils 
who are behind to catch up in their work, or for those who so 
desire to take extra work." 

* Journal of Educational Research, November, 1920. 
2 Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 5, p. 481. 



146 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

7. Credit for quality. The movement to assign credits 
weighted according to the quality of work done has natu- 
rally spread to the junior high schools that are attempting 
by every means possible to provide for individual differ- 
ences. Hampton, Iowa, and the Sigsbee School, Grand 
Rapids, are among those that have adopted the plan. Ver- 
mont junior high schools assign ^ 15 per cent and 25 per cent 
more or less credit respectively for the two marks above and 
below the average for the class. 

In order that credit for quality may be most successfully 
administered it is necessary that careful definition be made 
of the work required for each mark. ^ Those who have used 
the plan report that it is more effective in stimulating the 
weak pupils than the able and that it does not enable the 
brightest pupils materially to reduce the time necessary for 
graduation. 

Only 91 junior high schools reported as to credit for qual- 
ity. Of these, 40, or 44.0 per cent, use the plan to prO' 
vide for individual differences of achievement. 

8. Minimum essentials. One school reports that it re- 
quires of all pupils a minimum amount of work in each sub- 
ject and requires of the abler pupils supplementary or more 
difficult topics. This plan has not proved popular and is 
not likely to be successful, for, as McMurry has pointed out, 
minimum essentials are often conceived also as the maxi- 
mum necessities, and it constantly widens the gap between 

1 Bulletin 1, 1918, pp. 23-26. 

2 See Bailey: "Administration of Quantitative and Qualitative Credit 
for High School," School Review, vol. 25, pp. 305-22; and Reeder: "The 
Geneseo Scale of Qualities," Elementary School Journal, vol. 20, pp. 
292-96. 



SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 147 

the able and the dull in the same classes. For these reasons, 
among others, it was abandoned after a trial in elementary- 
schools of New York City. It would seem wiser to provide 
for individual differences by some of the other plans enumer- 
ated in this chapter. 

9. Homogeneous grouping of pupils. There has always 
been a tendency for schools to recognize and care for, often 
unkindly, pupils who are dull or for other reasons backward. 
Teachers have given such pupils a relatively inordinate 
amount of time in class and have kept them in after school, 
and in one high school visited there was what was popularly- 
called a "bonehead room" to which were assigned pupils 
who had fallen behind in their work ! The plan of homogene- 
ous grouping provides that the bright be recognized as well 
as the dull, that each group be taught according to need, 
and that it shall progress at its optimum pace.^ That there 
are wide ranges of natural ability, all stages of which should 
receive special and appropriate attention, may be seen in the 
reports of the achievements of pupils when measured by the 
Army Alpha Tests. ^ In Grand Rapids 44 dull junior-high- 
school pupils, when given individual mental tests, were 
classified as follows: normal, 2; backward, 3; border-line, 
1; morons, 36; and imbeciles, 2.^ 

Various methods have been used to ascertain the relative 
abilities of pupils. One school selected a group of accelerant 
pupils wholly on the basis of inheritance and "general repu- 

^ A full explanation of this plan, with notes as to its adoiinistration, is 
given by Briggs in the Proceedings of the National Association of Secondary 
School Principals, vol, iii, pp. 53-63. 

2 See Madsen and Sylvester: School and Society, vol. 10, p. 407. 

3 Superintendent's Report^ 1916. 



148 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

tation" and reported the results "encouraging"; Rochester 
(Minnesota), Butte (Montana), Madison ville (Ohio), Lin- 
coln (Nebraska),^ and Pawhuska (Oklahoma), among 
others, have grouped pupils on the basis of their records in 
elementary grades; Hot Springs (Arkansas), Richmond 
(Indiana), and Burlington (Vermont) have made their 
groupings after from three weeks to one semester of teaching 
and observing the pupils; Cincinnati selected a class of ac- 
celerant pupils by individual mental tests, and at the Speyer 
Junior High School, New York City, different batteries of 
mental tests have been used to classify all incoming pupils 
since 1915. Fretwell has shown ^ that the marks of pupils 
in grades 5 and 6 are good for prognosis of ability to do 
junior-high-school work, that the marks for grades 1 to 6 
are better, and that selected tests are best. The improve- 
ment in group mental tests, which are easy and economical 
to administer, and their popularization by the army have 
given impetus to the movement for their use for jhomogene- 
ous classification of school pupils. 

Whatever method of classification is used, there should 
be provision for the easy transfer of pupils who have been 
badly placed. Superintendent Chittenden states that a 
pupil transferred from one group to another adjusts himself 
within forty-eight hours; but experience at the Speyer 
School showed that there was considerable loss when trans- 
fers of individuals were made. To be most successful homo- 
geneous grouping needs to be supplemented by more than 
usually close and careful supervision of teachers; although 

* Hunter: Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 3, pp. 394-95. 
8 A Study of Educational Prognosis. 



SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 149 

they may understand and generally approve the classifica- 
tion of similar pupils together, there are potent habits to be 
overcome, and long confidence in subjective judgments of 
ability tends to make them dubious at times of the results 
of objective measures. 

After pupils are grouped according to ability, schools vary 
in their aims and prescribed programs. The Speyer School, 
Richmond, and Burlington plan primarily for pupils to 
save time. Cincinnati and Lincoln provide a special curric- 
ulum, for the most part academic, whereby their better 
groups may be accelerated. Hampton, Iowa, has its A 
division supplement the text fully, its B division do the 
work as outlined in the courses of study, and its C division 
emphasize only what are considered to be minimum essen- 
tials. Miami reports; 

In the A division of each year we make the work more literary 
and require more outside work than in the B or C division; in 
the B division we offer more manual training and domestic science 
and less work of a literary character; and in the C division we pre- 
scribe still less work of an academic nature but give as much prac- 
tical arts as possible. 

An adjustment of methods of teaching automatically and 
almost inevitably follows homogeneous grouping. 

Of 109 junior high schools reporting on the topic, 80, or 
73.6 per cent, provided in 1917-18 for accelerant groups; 
and of 140, 110, or 79.3 per cent, provided for the slow 
moving. There is evidence that the number is by this time 
considerably increased. There is no report of a school that 
has once tried the plan reverting to the old classification 
of pupils regardless of their ability to achieve results. 



150 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

10. Ungraded rooms. Another method of providing for 
individual differences is the assignment, usually in small 
groups, of pupils who deviate markedly from the normal 
groups to a special room where they may receive suitable 
attention. Like several of the other provisions, this one is 
usually made for dull pupils, though there is no reason why 
it should not be equally effective for the able. Only 13.9 
per cent of Smith's 409 cities provide ungraded rooms for 
bright pupils. "Opportunity rooms" are found in junior 
high schools at Los Angeles, Grand Rapids, Detroit, and 
Charleston (West Virginia). No questionnaire returns 
were requested on this item. 

Of the work at Charleston Miss Mabel Gibbons, the 
principal, wrote: 

At the opening of the second semester we formed special classes 
of pupils who failed to pass in their work and yet who were too far 
advanced to repeat without an unnecessary loss of time and in- 
terest. . . . These classes were given a review of six weeks on the 
work of the previous semester, particular attention being paid to 
the individual needs of the pupils. New supplementary work 
was introduced to keep up the interest and to furnish new avenues 
of approach. At the close of this six weeks period those who were 
strengthened sufficiently were allowed to take advanced work 
under the same teacher, and the others were fitted into lower 
classes for more thorough study. Very few returned to the lower 
classes. At the close of the term about 80 per cent of those in re- 
peating classes were ready for regular promotion and we find them 
doing good work this year. Some of the weak 20 per cent made up 
the work during the summer, and others are repeating in regular 
classes this semester. 

11. Sex segregation.^ The separation of pupils according 
to sex in secondary schools has never been generally consid- 

* See also Douglass; The Junior High School, pp. 44-45, 49, 130-31. 



SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 151 

ered from an educational point of view. As it is more eco- 
nomical to establish one high school in a district, boys and 
girls have been thrown together for education in adolescence 
as in childhood, with such satisfactory results that chal- 
lenges to the practice have been few and ineffective. But 
there are differences between boys and girls that are recog- 
nized by the provision of separate classes almost everywhere, 
at least in physical training and industrial work. 

It is held by many that sex segregation by classes in early 
adolescence should be carried much further than is now the 
general practice in secondary schools. As the consciousness 
of sex becomes strong, there are increased problems in co- 
education, especially in those subjects that involve emo- 
tional elements — like literature and music. There is much 
testimony that junior-high-school boys and girls respond 
more freely and naturally to emotional appeals in literature 
and that they sing more seriously and better when separated 
than when together. Discipline is also said to be easier. 
Bcience has shown that girls enter upon adolescence earlier 
than boys, but the effect of this upon classwork is by no 
means exactly known. 

Many schools have carried sex segregation by subjects 
further than is usual, holding that textbooks, especially in 
science and mathematics, are prepared primarily for boys. 
Lewiston (Idaho), Clinton (Iowa), and Everett (Washing- 
ton), are among the schools that have taken this position, 
and it was approved in 1914 by the New Jersey Council of 
Education. Of 254 junior high schools reporting, 67 have 
sex segregation in subjects other than physical training and 
industrial work. The distribution is as shown in Table XXIIe 



152 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

TABLE XXn 
Distribution of Subjects in which Pupils are segregated 

ACCORDING to SeX, EXCLUSIVE OF PHYSICAL TRAINING AND 

Industrial Work, in 67 Junior High Schools 

Subject Number Per cent 

AU 17 25 A 

Some 3 4.5 

English 13 19.4 

Latin 1 1.5 

Music 7 10.4 

Art 6 9.0 

Social sciences 5 7.5 

Physical sciences 29 43 . 3 

Mathematics 11 16 .4 

First aid 1 1.5 

Care of children 1 1.5 

Earning, saving, and spending 1 1.5 

In a few cases where for educational reasons the sexes are 
separated in physical training, industrial arts, and the like, 
difficulties in program-making keep them apart in other 
subjects as well. On the other hand, small classes some- 
times make it necessary to teach boys and girls together, 
although educationally it seems desirable to segregate them. 

This discussion has shown that junior high schools to an 
extent, certainly more than other institutions dealing with 
pupils of the same ages, are recognizing and providing in 
several ways for individual differences. It seems likely 
that as the facts and possible means are more widely known, 
there will be a steady increase in the number of schools mak- 
ing these provisions and in the effectiveness of the work. 

C. Promotions 

From an academic point of view, departmentalization 
makes promotion of pupils into higher class organizations 



SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 153 

less important than when a pupil must "remain behind" or 
"go up " with his room. But in most schools where inquiry 
was made, the pupils themselves are keen to be known as 
members of the next higher school class, for there are usually 
some organizations — social, athletic, and the like — that 
are delimited as to membership by the general standing of 
the pupils. Some schools, therefore, as Richmond, Indiana, 
have a regular schedule of points that a pupil must acquire 
to earn membership in each of the class organizations. 

In proportion as a school has accepted the welfare of the 
individual as its ideal, rather than a strict "upholding of 
standards," promotion has, as stated from Sioux Falls, 
North Dakota, "a great deal of elasticity." It is notable, 
on visiting junior high schools, that a considerable number 
of principals are ready to promote a pupil to any class what- 
ever if it seems probable that for any reason he will be better 
off attempting the so-called "higher " work. In many cases 
the work may be "higher" only in the sense that it is sched- 
uled in the program of studies normally for the eighth or 
ninth grade. Mention has already been made of the prac- 
tice of promoting per vim backward pupils, especially when 
they are approaching the end of the period of legally com- 
pulsory education. More than 23 per cent of 260 junior- 
high-school principals report that they promote pupils at 
any time that conditions seem to warrant their so doing. 
These reports were volunteered, no direct request for such 
information being made; therefore it is probable that the 
percentage is in reality much larger. 

Throughout the country the tendency toward semi- 
annual promotions in all grades is marked; in fact, it may 



154 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

be considered the very general practice in schools that are 
large enough to have two or more classes doing the same 
year's work. It is somewhat surprising, then, to find that 
47 per cent of the 260 junior high schools reporting on this 
item still had in 1917 annual promotions only. The Spring- 
field Report found 54.9 per cent of 83 schools with annual 
promotions in 1919. The explanation is, of course, that the 
larger the number of elective subjects offered in a school, 
the more impossible it is to provide for semi-annual promo- 
tion; an attempt to provide differentiation is the most 
marked characteristic of junior high schools. 

Surprising, too, is the fact that only 76.6 per cent of 248 
schools reporting promote by subject rather than by grade. 
This does not differ far from the 82.3 per cent of the North 
Central junior high schools reported by Davis as promoting 
by subject. Ten per cent of our 248 schools state that they 
promote by subject in the ninth grade only or in "both 
grade and subject." This latter phrase may mean promo- 
tion by subject in the ninth grade only, or in subjects that 
have more definite standards than are now found in music, 
physical education, etc. Of the schools reporting for the 
Springfield study in 1919, 42 promote entirely by subject, 
10 by the general average of subjects, 18 by major subjects, 
and 17 by the credit point system. These answers are 
returned by a maximum of 83 schools. The difficulties of 
program-making are the greatest obstacles to the ideal of 
promotion by subject. 



CHAPTER VI 

CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 

Although in the beginning of the junior-high-school move- 
ment the energies of schoolmen were given largely to the 
physical details of reorganization, it has all the time been 
obvious that the new type of school could achieve only a 
limited amount of success unless it brought about adequate 
changes in the curricula and courses of study. ^ To be satis- 
factory these changes must be based on clearly conceived 
purposes; but as an effective definition of the ends of educa- 
tion itself is still in the making, there can be small wonder 
at the meagerness of the changes so far accomplished in the 
subject-matter for early adolescents or at the great variety 
in the attempted adjustments. One cannot examine the 
curricula and courses of study without concluding that so 
far they have made only a beginning at accomplishing de- 
sired ends. This opinion is confirmed by one of the foremost 
advocates of educational reorganization: 

We have lately visited a good number of so-called "Junior High 
Schools." We find in all cases the principal proudly conscious of 
the distinctiveness of his new institution, his teachers, pupils, 
building, discipliae activities, student activities, "auditorium," 

^ Throughout this report these terms are used as recommended by the 
Committee on College Entrance Requirements. " The program of studies 
properly includes all the subjects offered in a given school. The curriculum 
refers to a group of subjects systematically arranged for any pupil or set of 
pupils. The course of study means the quantity, quality, and method of 
work in any given subject of instruction." Johnston: High School Educa- 
tion, p. Ill, note. 



156 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

adviser system, social center, etc. We have proceeded as quickly as 
politeness allowed, in every case, to make inquiries concerning 
the designs for the partially distinguishable schemes of training 
(courses of study), the bases upon which pupil groups are steered 
into this or that curriculum direction, the methods of teaching which 
seem best suitable to this new unit in the school system — and 
finally (and most vital and most perplexing of all the questions), 
what are the new organizations of the mathematical material, 
the language units of instruction, the bases for the selection and 
treatment of the literature, the foreign languages, science, history, 
etc., which are being adopted. The answer generally is, "We 
have n't got that far yet," "We plan to take that up next year,'* 
or, "We have no reorganization of this sort in prospect." 

If we are really going to reorganize our school system into new 
administrative units, it will be a great pity, educationally, if we 
merely do a little tinkering here and there — in spots, as it were. 
The psychological value of the new development is that it provides 
just that favorable new condition for seriously conceived plans 
which are more closely related to a clear educational philosophy, 
and which may be undertaken, less hampered by tradition and pre- 
judice, than ever before. If we for the first year or two tackle 
merely the externals of reorganization and put off the strictly in- 
ternal matters of reorganization suggested above, the opportu- 
nity for new and profound educational effects is squandered.^ 

Why have schoolmen postponed the issue? Is it because 
the concrete details of administration are too insistent to 
leave time for the task? Is it because tradition is so potent 
as to make effort seem unnecessary? Or is the acceptance 
of a "manipulative and clerical," rather than a "discrimi- 
nating and educational," method of curriculum making a 
confession of the lack of clear and convincing guiding prin- 
ciples? Although there have been relatively few attempts 
fundamentally to reorganize subject-matter, there is by and 
large among junior-high-school principals and teachers a 

1 C. H. Johnston, editorial in Educational Administration and Super- 
vision, vol. 1, pp. 411-12. 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 157 

keener interest in such reorganization than among the repre- 
sentatives of higher schools. This interest results in a recep- 
tivity that throws on theorists and their interpreters, the 
makers of textbooks, the gravest responsibilities for the 
subject-matter and method in the intermediate period for 

the next generation. 

The purposes of education. In all literature concerning 
education there are numerous attempts to define purposes. 
These are so many and so varied in their emphasis as to 
suggest that each person must find or formulate a statement 
of peculiar value to himseK; unless the statement stimulates 
and guides him in the task of leading others toward "the 
good life," it is merely an academic exercise and without 
efficacy. The most generally helpful statement, like the 
Golden Rule for moral conduct, will not restrict mitiative 
and individuality by undue detail, but will rather guide by 
large prmciples, throwing on each individual the burden of 
responsibility for interpretation and for action. 

In this treatment of curricula the general purposes of the 

school are conceived to be two: first and fundamental, 

to teach pupils to do better the desirable activities that they 

will perform anyway; and, second, to reveal higher types of 

activities and to make these both desired and to an extent 

possible. Approval of the first purpose necessitates the 

making for each individual pupil or group of pupils of an 

inventory of desirable and inevitable activities; from this 

list selection must from time to time be made on the basis 

of relative importance. The second purpose, which is to 

insure growth beyond what instincts and education outside 

the school may furnish, demands not only that higher activi- 



158 THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 

ties shall be revealed, but that they shall be made desirable 
and, so far as time permits, reasonably possible. 

It is not urged that these or any similar principles be 
applied in such manner as to result in revolutionary changes 
— for example, in the discarding of the conventional sub- 
jects of study for an extreme problem method; but to insure 
the elimination of details justified only by tradition, the 
logical organization of the topic, or unsubstantiated ideas 
concerning the general transfer of powers, it seems entirely 
necessary that all subject-matter be tested by such accepted 
principles. In other words, as Flexner has said, ^ the modem 
school should "include nothing for which an alBBrmative 
case cannot now be made out." 

Another general statement of the purposes of education 
is that by the Reviewing Committee of the National Edu- 
cational Association Commission on the Reorganization of 
Secondary Education. ^ After a consideration of the changes 
that have come in society, in the secondary-school popula- 
tion, and in educational theory — specifically as concern 
individual differences, general discipline, applied knowledge, 
and the continuity of development of children — it proposes 
that as 

the purpose of education in a democracy is so to organize society 
that each member may develop his personality primarily through 
activities designed for the well-being of his fellow-members and of 
scMiiety as a whole, ediieaiion in a democrajcy, hdk within and wiih' 
out the scJmolt should deodop in each indisidutd ike kmnded^e, inter- 
ests, ideals t habits, and powers, whereby he will find his jdace and use 
that jjlace to shape both himsdj and society toward e^er Tiobler ends, 

* The Modem SeJmoL 

s Uoited States Bureau of Education Bulletin S5, 1918. 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 159 

The report then sets up as the main objections of educa- 
tion — 

1. Health. 

2. Command of the fundamental processes. 

3. Worthy home-membership. 

4. Vocation. 

5. Citizenship. 

6. The worthy use of leisure. 

7. Ethical character. 

It later argues for the definite recognition of such objectives 
in planning curricula, both the differentiating and integrat- 
ing functions, education as a process of growth, the need for 
explicit values, and the subordination of deferred values. 

Variety and continuity. The details for study, selected on 
the basis of some general statement of the purposes of edu- 
cation, will fall roughly, but less severely than is now often 
required, into organization aroimd conventional subjects, 
thus giving the material for courses of study, from which 
curricula may be made. The purposes presented go further 
in determining what details are worthy than in selecting 
among them those that are relatively of most worth. In one 
sense a curriculum cannot be inteUigently formulated until 
the details of the constituent courses are fairly well known; 
and, on the other hand, the details of courses are in a meas- 
ure determined by what supporting coiu*ses are offered — 
that is, by the whole curriculum. One's estimation of the 
value of "English," for instance, or of any other subject, 
will be determined partly by the details referred to general 
principles and partly as satisfying the needs for some spe- 
cific, definite, and worthy end. 



160 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

The details of a curriculum should promise an assured 
contribution to the limited life-aim selected; they should 
also in combination afford preparation for a well-rounded 
life. As pointed out by students, each person is a member 
of social units of various size; he follows a trade or profession; 
and he lives his individual intellectual and aesthetic life. 
That he may be guided and enabled to live a life of fullness, 
a variety of subjects must make their contribution to his 
education. Whenever the junior high school makes a pro- 
gram of immediate trade preparation alone, it acknowledges 
a compromise with its ideals — a compromise that may be 
necessary in order to restrain the pupil from prematurely 
entering work that must on the whole be profitless, but it is 
an admission that the school is not offering what it believes 
generally desirable — preparation for a life of many phases. 
Hence the general acceptance in curriculum-making of the 
principle of variety. 

Another important principle is that of continuity. There 
has been much discussion as to the freedom a pupil should 
have in changing his election of curriculum. One perplexed 
principal sent in this inquiry: "How long should a pupil be 
compelled to continue a subject after it becomes evident 
that he cannot learn it?" Practice differs considerably. 
For the most part, change is permitted in junior high schools 
rather freely, with the result that undoubtedly some pupils 
drop an elected study merely because it proves difficult. If 
a curriculum is made up of mere fragments of work, there 
can be little promise of satisfactory educational results. 
The ideal would seem to require exploratory courses worth 
while to the extent taken, followed by continued and in- 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 161 

creasing differentiation, as appropriate to individual needs 
as possible. 

No one advocates the absurdly small unit of one week for 
any given subject; how long it should continue to be profit- 
able is one of the unsettled problems. The answer will 
depend, of course, in large measure on the nature of the unit 
and on its relation to a proposed hierarchy, all the elements 
leading definitely to desired ends. Many schools prescribe 
that no credit shall be given toward graduation for a study 
of a foreign language unless it is pursued for one or for two 
full years. As the languages are ordinarily taught, this 
admission that no compensatory value results from a few 
weeks or months of study, is probably a justification for the 
prescription. But we can conceive of a material reorgani- 
zation of subject-matter and of method that will result 
in a course, even in a foreign language, that is profitable 
whether continued for two years, two months, or even two 
weeks. 

In a school that is frankly exploratory in piu'pose for 
pupils of uncertain aims it is difficult to discard the ideal 
of substituting assured values in every unit, however small, 
for a program of deferred values that may be realized only 
by a course continued longer than a majority of the pupils 
are likely to remain in school. If this ideal is earnestly 
sought and the resultant plans sensibly administered, there 
should be many small dividends, greater certitude as to 
what an individual pupil should or should not continue, 
and the possibility of a more justifiable demand for conti- 
nuity in advanced work. 
These two principles, then — - that a curriculum by variety 



162 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

of offering should prepare for a rounded life and that every 
unit should have either a considerable continuity or assured 
value in its smallest units — determine very largely the selec- 
tion of subject-matter justified by the two general theses 
stated on page 157. 

The purposes of an intermediate school. The application 
to the intermediate-school curricula of the general principles 
previously stated must be made in terms of the purposes 
of this period of education. The first of these purposes, 
which were briefly stated in chapter i, is to continue, in so 
far as it may seem wise and possible, and in a gradually 
decreasing degree, common, integrating education. It is 
probable that even in the best schools there will remain after 
the sixth grade many details which, because of the generous 
conception as to what all citizens should know or because 
of the immaturity of the pupils, have not been taught. 
These, when presented in the seventh, eighth, or even more 
advanced grades, continue the integrating effect of educa- 
tion and also result in the desirable gradual change toward 
complete differentiation. It is quite possible that the 
amount of this common, integrating education should be 
determined by the holding power of the school; however 
profitable a curriculum may be to the children remaining in 
school, it has not made its maximum contribution to society 
unless it serves both to hold longer the large number who 
leave as soon as permitted by law and to profit them also. 
When the compulsory-education laws are changed so as 
generally to hold pupils until they are sixteen or eighteen 
years of age, the whole question as to the amount of common, 
integrating education may be opened anew; but until that 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 163 

time we must formulate our programs in accordance with 
the facts of eUmination and retention. 

It must not be thought that this first purpose of the inter- 
mediate school is achieved only by the ordinary curricula 
matter, such as mathematics, civics, or English; toward it 
contributions are made also by extra-curricula activities, 
such as school assemblies, clubs, and pupil organizations for 
participation in the government of the school, all of which 
are steadily receiving increased recognition, and in addition 
by association in the same school of children having widely 
different origins and aims, but making and sharing in a 
common atmosphere with its traditions of prejudices and 
ideals. The economic values of early differentiating schools 
preparing for academic, industrial, or commercial life, must 
be great indeed to justify the loss of social integration in the 
common school. 

The second purpose of the intermediate school, as stated, 
is to ascertain and reasonably to satisfy pupils* important 
immediate and assured future needs. Many of these, espe- 
cially the immediate needs, are common to all early adoles- 
cents, and so their satisfaction also contributes to the first 
purpose. Many others, both the immediate and especially 
the future, are because of individual differences of various 
kinds not common. It is assumed that such differences as 
are undesirable and as can be removed at a justifiable cost 
to society will be eradicated. But there remain other differ- 
ences — in mental capacities, in age, in economic status, and 
in family traditions toward education. Because it is be- 
yond the power of the school to affect these latter differences, 
it is necessary to provide differentiated training, and this 



164 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

can wisely be done only after a serious effort has been made 
to ascertain what differences, especially in interests, apti- 
tudes, and capacities, exist and necessitate different direc- 
tion or training. The effort to make all pupils alike, which 
has been too common in our traditional schools, has re- 
sulted not only in eliminations, but frequently also in unsat- 
isfactory training of those for whom the curriculum and 
courses primarily were prepared. 

Acceptance of the obligation to prepare for the important 
immediate and assured future needs of individuals may 
necessitate the earlier introduction of certain courses than 
would be approved if the schools had assurance of later 
opportunity. In the Bloom Junior High School of Cincin- 
nati, the pupils of which as a rule remain only through the 
ninth grade, there is offered a course in the care of infants. 
A trained nurse and a kindergartner cooperate in teaching 
the girls how to bathe, dress, feed, entertain, and generally 
care for children from birth to the time they enter school. 
Although many of these girls are "little mothers" to small 
brothers and sisters at home, it may be admitted that such 
a course would be better if offered later, shortly before mater- 
nity; but no agency exists either for presenting such a course 
at that time or for compelling attendance. Therefore it is felt 
that social welfare justifies the junior high school in under- 
taking the task. The results are reported to be satisfactory. 

What the important immediate and assured future needs 
of pupils are may be discovered only after a careful and con- 
tinued study of local conditions, the intentions of pupils, 
and the histories of older people who have developed in sim- 
ilar surroundings. That they may not be known with full* 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 165 

ness and accuracy is no excuse for the school's not attempt- 
ing to ascertain and satisfy them as nearly as possible. 
Approximation is better than a continuance of training 
that is known not to satisfy either immediate or future needs 
of the large majority of pupils. Certainly the opportunities 
of children in congested districts of a great city and to a 
large extent their needs are different from those of other 
boys and girls in suburban or rural homes. One metro- 
politan junior high school has thought it wise by means of 
weekly excursions to reveal to its pupils the possibilities for 
popular education provided in museums, aquaria, art insti- 
tutes, memorials, and public works, utilizing these excursions 
to stimulate and vivify the study of science, fine arts, his- 
tory, civics, and English. A rural school might adopt the 
same general plan, but it would find it necessary to substi- 
tute other institutions, not merely because they are accessi- 
ble, but because they are the ones that in all probability will 
most affect the future lives of most of its pupils. 

When an intermediate school accepts the principle that 
its first obligation is to prepare better citizens for the polit- 
ical unit that makes local education possible, it will cease 
copying curricula and courses of study prepared for very 
different conditions or "for schools in general." On the 
basis of the suggested study of local needs and opportunities 
it will construct programs, if not for individual pupils, then 
for groups or majorities. It may be conceded, however, 
that peculiar local needs will necessitate adaptations more 
often than entire invention and that the changes will con- 
stitute as a rule only a minor part of the whole curriculum. 

The third purpose of the intermediate school is to explore. 



166 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

by means of material in itself worth while, the interests, 
aptitudes, and capacities of pupils. This purpose, like the 
second, is based on a recognition of insuperable differences 
that become of increasing importance as pupils approach 
the age of leaving school. It is true that to an extent inter- 
ests are or may be created by the school, but even more they 
are the result of innate factors and of outside environment. 
Aptitudes and capacities, which are almost entirely innate, 
have a great range. These can be made identical, if at all, 
only at an unjustifiable cost to individual pupils or to the 
public. The wasteful effort to make scholars of pupils who 
have aptitudes for mechanics, or to give a professional 
training to those who inherit a capacity for doing well only 
those tasks that may be satisfactorily performed by limited 
intelligences, has been abundantly seen in the past. Not 
only has it largely failed to make boys and girls do well what 
they were unfitted by nature to do, but it has prevented 
those who were fitted from getting anything like the maxi- 
mum benefit from their studies. Hence it is that the 
American high school is justly criticized severely when its 
product is compared with that of certain European second- 
ary schools that segregate their pupils and prepare them 
according to their capacities. Although we are properly 
unwilling to predestine children because of the fortunes of 
economic or social status, there is nothing in the principles 
of democracy that forbids us to make provisions in educa- 
tion according to the predestinations of nature. Only by 
providing at adolescence for differences in interests, apti- 
tudes, and capacities can we hope to give an "equal " chance 
to all future citizens. 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 167 

As there are no means of knowing with any degree of accu- 
racy the differences of children in interests, aptitudes, and 
capacities at the end of the elementary-school period, it is 
argued that it is an essential function of the intermediate 
school to ascertain what these differences are, so that ad- 
vanced schooling may offer training adapted to them. The 
old type of secondary school did this in a very limited way, 
offering a program of studies which showed, by the failures, 
the eliminations, and the neglect after graduation, that it 
was unsuited to a large percentage of pupils. In other 
words, its success was largely in negative results. The pur- 
pose of the new type of secondary school is positive: to ascer- 
tain what is suited, not what is unsuited, to individual 
pupils. 

This purpose necessitates a much wider variety of offer- 
ings, primarily in "general" courses, than the traditional 
program of studies provides, and it proposes to begin its 
study of differences earlier and more deliberately. More 
than this, it demands that the material for exploration so 
far as possible be justified for other ends of education. 
Although this demand would ultimately result in a general 
reorganization of courses of study, it is based on an ideal 
that may be measurably met by emphasizing in the junior 
high school the elements that are justifiable by some of the 
other accepted purposes, by omitting those that are not, and 
by making a careful record of the results with each individual 
pupil so that he may be given intelligent guidance for the 
future. 

The intermediate school courses should explore the inter- 
ests, aptitudes, and capacities of pupils in all the more im- 



168 THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 

portant fields of learning, which include industrial activities. 
The following argument ^ for positive exploration in the 
field of manual arts, which is quoted from an article by a 
superintendent who has developed one of the most effective 
junior high schools, is just as sound when applied to the 
field of belles-lettres; 

But how are these interests and abilities to be determined? It 
is true that every eighth-grade teacher has watched certain of her 
graduates go into the literary, pure science, and mathematics 
courses of the high school knowing that they were doomed to failure 
in these lines. Her counsels availed little, however, when opposed 
by the traditional emphasis upon those high-school courses which 
may lead ultimately into professional life. But even in these cases 
the teacher has based her judgment more upon what the pupil has 
failed to do in courses given than upon what he had accomplished 
in other directions. This is obviously true because the grammar 
school has no facilities with which to make any adequate test along 
lines other than those which do lead to the general courses of the 
upper high school. 

School authorities in Rochester believed that so long as these 
broader facilities for evoking the pupils' iuterests and abilities in 
the great field of manual arts were not made a reasonably adequate 
part of their fives before the compulsory education law had been 
satisfied, the steady withdrawal of such a large percentage of the 
eighth-grade graduates from this community and the traditional 
selection of the literary high-school courses on the part of so many 
others who would gain but meager profit from such courses would 
inevitably continue. The only way to guarantee these facilities 
was to make them a part of the pupils' school work before com- 
pulsory attendance had released its hold upon the child. The 
problem then lay in preserving a sensible balance between the one 
extreme represented by the single-teacher plan of grammar-school 
organization and the other extreme of premature specialization. 
This could be done only by insistence that these courses for seventh- 
and eighth-grade pupils under the junior-high-school organization 

1 Weet: "Rochester's Junior High Schools," Educational Administration 
and Supervision^ vol. 2, pp. 437-38. 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 169 

should provide so far as possible a range of activities sufficiently 
broad to bring out individual interest and capacities and that 
they should be emphatically preparatory and prevocational. 

The fourth purpose of the intermediate school is to reveal 
to pupils, by material otherwise justifiable, the possibilities 
in the major fields of learning. The high school has for a 
long time attempted something of this kind in such subjects 
as Latin and mathematics; but it has used for this purpose 
material of most value only if the subjects were continued 
to advanced stages. In other words, the high school has 
emphasized deferred values, and in so doing has contributed 
far less than it might to the pupils who were eliminated 
or who transferred to other curricula. The intermediate 
school proposes to open up to pupils somewhat earlier the 
possibilities in higher education, so that each pupil may 
intelligently elect those subjects which attract his interests, 
for which he has aptitudes and abilities, and which while 
promising to satisfy clearly perceived needs stimulate his 
ambitions. It is believed that most, if not all subjects, can 
reveal their possibilities by means of material that will at 
the same time contribute to some of the other enumerated 
purposes, with no loss to themselves and with assured values 
to the pupils who drop out no less than to those who continue. 

How will the exploratory courses differ from those offered at 
present .f^ In the first place, every detail will in itself be a fact 
worth knowing; nothing, absolutely nothing, at this period of a 
child's training will depend for its justification wholly or even 
largely on its deferred values. While being thus of worth, the 
facts presented will reveal the possibilities in the general field of 
learning. This means, of course, that they will cover a larger part 
of each field than now, that the work will for the most part be 
extensive rather than intensive. In literature the pupils will be 



170 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

led to read widely, beginning with what they really like and pro- 
ceeding to more refined masterpieces only as growing tastes, mani- 
fested by responses, will permit. Instead of learning fifty facts 
apparently of more or less equal importance about one classic, they 
will be led primarily to appreciate the one big fact in each of 
twenty classics. If they advance to a higher study of literature, 
they will have a background for their future study and a method 
of relative values; if they do not, they will have a background for 
their future reading and a method that should make it intelligent. 
Mathematics, instead of being confined to the higher reaches of 
arithmetic, will concern the general applications of arithmetic, and 
will introduce the elements, the more practical elements, of algebra, 
constructive geometry, and even of trigonometry. In science — 
general science, if you please — the range for children will be like 
the range for real scientists, into whatever fields the solution of 
real problems leads. The artificial vertical stratification of science 
into chemistry, physics, botany, and the rest has its chief value in 
the logical organization of facts after they have been acquired. 
Early adolescence is the age for acquiring the facts of science and 
the simple principles which, while useful in themselves, reveal the 
possibilities in future study. Acquired matured knowledge fre- 
quently overlooks the earlier naive questions, which demand honest 
answers as the foundation for the desired progress to the later ones. 

Omitting the illustrations from the fields of English com- 
position, fine arts, music, and industrial training, we may 
quote in conclusion general reasons for the exploratory 
courses : 

This exploration, then, gives each pupil some knowledge of the 
general field more exhaustively studied in higher courses, and thus 
enables him to choose more wisely his future curriculum. Our 
system of electives in the senior high school and in college pre- 
supposes an intelligent and informed elector; under the old system 
he might be intelligent but he could not be informed. If, as is 
quite possible, such exploring courses should lead a pupil into a 
general elective which later he might wish to change, he still could 
do so and not be more retarded in his progress than most pupils 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 171 

are to-day. Exploration at the age of twelve to fourteen is much 
more economical than it is two or more years later. ^ 

Try-out courses are very common in the industrial de- 
partments of junior high schools. Usually a pupil is given 
six or nine weeks in a particular shop before being moved on 
to the next, and frequently the shop-work is supplemented 
by a study of vocations and visits to factories. The so- 
called Ettinger plan ^ in New York City, perhaps the most 
widely known, has this program. In New Britain, Con- 
necticut, the pupils repeat the cycle in the second year, the 
work being somewhat more advanced than before, and then 
in the ninth grade enter upon intensive training for some 
particular trade. 

A committee of the National Association of Secondary- 
School Principals, Paul C. Stetson, chairman, in its prelim- 
inary report (1918) strongly advocated that the junior high 
school be considered "essentially a finding place" for indi- 
vidual pupils. It especially recommends that "whenever 
possible the rotating scheme of industrial work for the boys 
and girls of the junior high school age be employed," and 
suggests the following program: 



Grade 


Subject 


Semester 


Hours 


7-1 


Mechanical drawing 


One 


100 


7-2 


Forge 


One 


100 


8^1 


Machine 


One 


100 


8-2 


Woodworking 


One 


100 


9-1 


Printing 


One 


100 


9-2 


Electrical 


One 


100 



^ Briggs: Proceedings of the Fifty-Second Convocation of the University of 
the State of New York, 1916, pp. 97-100. Also in Education, vol. 37, pp. 
279-89. 

.2 See page 263-64u 



172 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

It should be noted that a longer period is recommended for 
the try-out than that used now by most schools using the 
same general plan. 

Such a try-out course may be profitable even to boys who 
assuredly will not be industrial workers in that it may afford 
training in the mechanical tasks that most householders are 
from time to time called on to perform and at the same time 
an understanding of the work of men following these voca- 
tions. Such an understanding of vocations other than one's 
own is in a way cultural and, moreover, it contributes to the 
general integration essential in a democracy. 

Sentiment is strong for the extension of this plan of "re- 
vealing courses " to all departments of the junior high school. 
To the question, "Do you favor the offering of general 
courses which, practical in themselves, acquaint the pupils 
with the possibilities in the general fields of learning and 
hence make future election more intelligent .f'" there were 
241 replies — 221, or 93.4 per cent, being "Yes," 4 being 
"To a limited extent," and 12, or less than five per cent, being 
"No." And an unmistakable tendency toward exploratory 
work in the several subjects is observed in the schools that 
have seriously undertaken reorganization of their courses. 

The courses of study for all the junior high schools, most 
of them small, in Vermont have been developed as explora- 
tory. The supervisor of junior high schools writes: ^ 

In the small junior high school such as is common in this state, 
it is a mistake to organize clearly defined, differentiated courses, 
such as commercial, scientific and college preparatory, and require 
pupils to select one of them upon entrance. Such an arrangement 

1 Vermont Bulletin 1, 1918, pp. 17, 18. 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 173 

tends to shunt pupils into certain lines which may be determined 
by transient ruterests, and although they may come to realize that 
they are "misfits" the system makes transfers iuconvenient if not 
impossible. 

Furthermore, there is nothing to be gained in confrontiug pupils 
at an early age with the problem of deciding just which course 
they wish to pursue. The evils mvolved in requiring pupils to 
make such choices at a later time can be overcome only by having 
pupils in the junior high school, and particularly in the first two 
years, become acquainted with a rather broad range of subjects. 
With the information thus acquired concerning the various subjects 
and a knowledge of his own interests, aptitudes, and capacities the 
pupil goes to high school prepared to elect courses because they 
minister to his felt needs. Two young ladies in a Vermont high 
school "explored" the commercial course during their sophomore 
year. They found it to be most unattractive to them and trans- 
ferred to the general course the next year. When they graduated 
the past spring they found the doors to college closed to them. 
They are anxious to enter but feel that they cannot spend an addi- 
tional year in preparation. Would it not have been much more 
economical, much less of a tragedy, if they had explored this field 
during their seventh or eighth year.f^ 

There is a general feeling to-day that, in the main, seventh- and 
eighth-grade pupils wUl be better equipped for the future for having 
taken extensive courses touching several fields than for having 
done intensive, specialized work in a single field. There may be 
exceptions to this where pupils must prepare in the least possible 
time for specific work, but as a rule if pupils drop out early they 
will find an elementary acquaintance with general fields of knowl- 
edge most helpful. If they remain in school such an experience 
gives intelligent direction and point to all their future work. 

The Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary 
Education recommends ^ that 

the pupil ordinarily should be assisted at about twelve or thirteen 
to begin to make a preliminary survey of the activities of adult life 
and of his own aptitudes in connection therewith, so that, in part, 

* United States Bureau of Education Bulletin 35, 1918, 



174 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

he may choose at least tentatively some field of human endeavor 
for special consideration. Following the period of preliminary sur- 
vey and provisional choice, he should have opportunity to acquire 
a more intimate knowledge of the field chosen, including therewith 
an appreciation of the social significance of that field, and for those 
whose schooling ends here some mastery of the technique involved. 
The field chosen will be for some as sharply defined as a specific 
trade; for others, it will be but the preliminary choice of a wider 
domain within which a narrower choice will later be made. 

For economical classroom organization Snedden offers ^ 
an interesting suggestion. He proposes 

to divide the studies offered, or even portions of given studies into 
two distinct groups, with reference to one of which quite exacting 
standards of scholarship shall be maintained as regards the ability 
of the pupil to stand tests, to explain, and interpret what he has 
learned, and to retain it as a permanent possession; and with 
reference to the second category, that the standards of approach 
shall be thcise characteristics of learning primarily for appreciation. 
This distinction, made between studies on the one hand, or between 
definite portions of such studies as natural science, social science, 
practical arts, etc., ought to be of considerable value in reducing 
the amount of time necessary for the actual teaching required. 
Personally, I believe that we shall yet work out a very extensive 
scheme of liberal education, based upon what is here called the 
standards and methods of appreciation. I believe that by the use 
of libraries, home reading, and amateur constructive work in the 
practical arts, we shall be able to achieve valuable ends with a very 
great reduction of the teaching force now required. 

This suggestion has been adopted in the curricula for the 
junior and senior high schools of New Hampshire. 

The fifth, and final, purpose of the junior high school is to 
start each pupil on the career which, as a result of the explo- 
ratory courses, he, his parents, and the school are convinced 
is most likely to be of profit to him and to the State. Based 
* Problems of Secondary Education^ pp. 119, 120. 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 175 

on courses exploratory of the pupils' interests, aptitudes, and 
capacities, and for them of possibilities in the major fields 
of learning, the beginning of diiGferentiation in work should 
be more in accord with life needs than it can be under the 
present organization. It is certain, however, that some 
young people, like some adults, will change their intentions 
after launching on an elected curriculum. Inasmuch as in 
the junior high school the differentiation will be gradual, 
such pupils as wish to change may do so with a minimum of 
loss; but it is only reasonable to hold that every major 
change of life purpose must be paid for in time and effort. 
The Solvay (New York) Junior High School has an adjust- 
ment year for those pupils who had started work for which 
they later proved unsuited, permitting all others to proceed 
with some saving of time on their elected curricula. Most 
schools, however, are likely to transfer pupils from one cur- 
riculum to another with an actual loss of learning for specific 
life purposes, but with little or no penalty toward graduation. 
As a matter of fact "graduation " from the junior high school 
is likely to receive less and less attention as pupils are sent 
onward to higher work for which they are fitted. 

This purpose, be it noted, is after exploration to start 
pupils on differentiated work: the suggestions are that the 
differentiation has been rationally determined, that it is 
gradual, and that it furnishes a transition to the period when 
each individual assumes the responsibility for his own future. 
If the work that he has begun proves interesting, suitable 
to his powers, and promising of sufficient contribution to his 
vocation, he is likely to find some way of continuing it; 
otherwise, the chances are strong that as soon as he leaves 



176 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

the junior high school he will turn to something else, prob- 
ably discontinuing his formal study altogether. The school, 
then, assumes the responsibility not only of directing the 
exploration, but also of helping to so sound a decision and 
so profitable a beginning of differentiated work that it will 
be continued in other types of schools as long as it proves 
profitable. 

Extreme differentiation in the junior high school is seldom 
if ever advocated for normal pupils. The general attitude 
is well represented by the two following quotations : 

Any one who is disposed to divide the course of study of the 
seventh grade into entirely separate and distinct curricula for 
different children does violence to the fundamental demands of a 
democratic organization. On the other hand, any one who would 
hold the course of study at any point to rigid and narrow lines does 
violence to the narrow demands which express themselves in the 
differentiated interests of the pupils.^ 

[The] committee feels that extreme differentiation in the matter 
of curricula is not desirable. We believe it is wrong to allow sev- 
enth-grade pupils to elect courses which will definitely determine 
and limit their future school life. Individual pupils may always 
be made an exception to the general rule.^ 

The opposition to fully differentiated curricula during or 
before the ninth school year is generally waived for one class 
of pupils — those who more or less retarded are approaching 
the end of the period of compulsory education with minds 
fully set on leaving school. For such pupils there is general 
agreement that highly individualized programs should be 
prepared. For them the work may be strictly vocational 
as many hours as need be, the hope being that in their last 

^ Bagley and Judd: School Review, vol. 26, p. 321. 
2 Committee of National Association of High-School Principals, P. C. 
Stetson, chairman, 1916. 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 177 

months in school they will acquire also some facts, princi- 
ples, and ideals which may later contribute toward a more 
full and rounded life. 

Ideally the beginnings of differentiation should be in the 
junior high school so that pupils may go on gradually to 
more completely individualized work; but it is obvious that 
the smaller the school, the less differentiation is possible. 
In many places, then, it will be wise for the schools to con- 
centrate their efforts toward satisfying the first four pur- 
poses discussed, leaving the last one to specialized schools 
in their own or other localities. When only one curriculum 
can be offered, it is postulated that it shall be so constructed 
as to promise the maximum return to the local community 
and to the majority of pupils in the class. The curricula 
and courses of study in Vermont junior high schools are more 
nearly consistent with these principles than any other that 
have been examined. There the offerings often depart 
widely from those in a "college preparatory course," not 
because of any hostility to higher education, but, rather, 
because of the needs of the majority of pupils in the com- 
munity. Ordinarily those intending to go to college can 
satisfy any reasonable requirements before completing the 
senior high school; but if only the needs of the majority of 
pupils in the community are supplied by the school, the 
special needs of the minority must be satisfied privately by 
individual parents, by larger political units such as the 
State or Nation, or remain unsupplied. 

The foregoing principles are presented as representing the 
ideals of the junior high school and its tendencies. It will 
be futile to look anywhere for a perfect exemplification in 



178 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

practice of these ideals; tlie movement is too young, the 
demands of physical reorganization have been too pressing, 
and the possibilities have often been conceived in too limited 
a manner. But in many schools there are significant changes 
in details of this course or the other, as some teacher has 
had vision, independence, and originality, or as some local 
demand has been so strong as to secure modifications in 
subject-matter. And the newer textbooks are spreading to 
other teachers and other schools outlines of courses that are 
considerably changed from those now most generally used. 
There can be little doubt that as the junior-high-school 
movement spreads the modifications in subject-matter will 
increase — in fact, its spread and continuance depend very 
largely on the adaptations of curricula and courses to satisfy 
social and industrial demands. Some general principles — 
either those presented in this chapter or substitutions for 
them — are needed, and the more frankly such principles 
are considered the greater the probabilities of educational 
success. 

Proposed curricula. One of the most fundamentally 
sound considerations of the junior-high-school curricula is 
that of Bonser in " Democratizing Secondary Education by 
the Six-Three-Three Plan." ^ Using data in the Census 
Report of 1910, he states that in all fields of vocations but 
two — public service and professional service, which claim 
only 5.6 per cent of men and women — 

a great majority of workers usually begin, and will continue to 
begin, wage earning by the age of fourteen, sixteen, or eighteen 
years. Their preparation for both wage earning and the other 

1 Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 1, pp. 567-76. 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 179 

activities of citizenship is seldom more than from two to four years 
beyond the sixth grade, and at best rarely more than six years. 
The intrinsic nature and the vocational destiny of most of our 
population therefore call for differentiation in treatment at from 
two to six years before they leave school for the vocations. 

The differentiation needed from both the psychological and 
social standpoints does not by any means require group isolation. 
Rather more than half of the interests and the means of appro- 
priate growth are still common to all children in the seventh, eighth, 
and ninth school years. It is in those subjects and fields only in 
which marked differences are evident that differentiation is needed. 
Individual capacities, inclinations, purposes, and considerations of 
time will usually determine lines of selection. Where doubt exists 
a conference of parents and teachers will usually help to point the 
way. 

The aptitudes of pupils and the vocational purposes toward 
which they incline pupils will lead to a fairly well-defined division 
into five groups where large numbers of pupils are considered. 
These may be called, respectively, the academic, the industrial, 
the commercial, the agricultural, and the household arts groups. 
In small schools, one or more of these groups may not be large 
enough to justify representation by differentiated courses [curric- 
ula]. In such cases compromises will not be difficult. . . . 

The differentiations will call for elective courses of five general 
groups somewhat as follows: 

Academic — foreign languages, algebra, geometry, technical 
English. 

Industrial — industrial arts, industrial drawing and design, 
industrial mathematics, industrial science. 

Commercial — bookkeeping, accounting, salesmanship, office 
practice, typewriting, stenography, commercial forms. 

Agricultural — elementary agriculture, farm mechanics, farm 
mathematics and accounts. 

Household Arts — textiles and clothing, foods and cookery, 
interior design and decoration, household management and 
accounts. 

Bonser makes no attempt to distribute the work in aRy 
of these fields through the three years. 



180 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

The purpose [he continues] is to indicate that for each group there 
is a definite content appeahng to the varied interests and capacities 
of pupils and pointing toward the large fields of vocational differ- 
entiation. 

By rating each year's work at thirty units, a distribution of eight- 
een to work in common and twelve in the differentiated field, gives 
a total of fifty-four in common and thirty-six in the group courses. 
The fifty-four units covering subject-matter of common value and 
about equal interest if properly humanized may be distributed as 
follows : 

12 units English 

8 units History 

8 units Geography 

8 units. Elementary science 

5 units Everyday mathematics and economics 

6 units Civics, problems in institutional and vo- 

cational life 

4 units Physical education 

8 units Music 

The thirty-six remaining units may be made up by selecting 
entirely from the offerings in any one of the five groups selected in 
the foregoing, or by some selection from two or more groups. 

The whole problem is not so much one of new courses [curricula], 
or new administrative machinery, as it is of reorganization and 
redirection of much of the secondary school work in terms of twen- 
tieth-century social needs and values. 

After outlining historically the curriculum changes in one 
high school, Newlon ^ tells how a satisfactory condition was 
secured by offering a number of curricula diversified accord- 
ing to the needs of the pupils, in each of which certain groups 
of subjects were required for the purpose of securing integra- 
tion, continuity of work, and a desirable mastery in some 
fields. Newlon continues: 

1 "The Need of a Scientific Curriculum Policy for Junior and Senior 
High Schools," Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 3, pp. ^52- 
68. 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 181 

All that I have said concerning the problems of curriculum mak- 
ing in the senior high school will, in my opinion, hold good in the 
junior high school. The same principles of curriculum differentia- 
tion, of constants and of sequence and diversity, will hold in the 
junior cycle that will hold in the senior cycle of our secondary 
schools. . . . The growth of the junior-high-school idea means that 
in this country, students of education and administrators of 
schools are rapidly accepting the proposition that differentiation 
of curriculums ought to begin in the seventh year. The differentia- 
tion in the junior high school will not be as distinct as, and will 
not be carried to anything like the extent that it will be carried 
in the senior high school. 

What curriculums will there be in the junior high school? In 
general, there will be the following: college preparatory, general, 
commercial, industrial, household arts, a total of five for those 
students destined to enter the senior high school. In addition, 
there will be a group of curriculums of a highly specialized trade 
character for those who will never enter the senior high school, 
but will at once become wage-earners. 

The principles of diversity and sequence, and of constants, 
applicable to curriculum making in the junior high school will be 
the same as in the senior high school. If we accept the principles 
of differentiation in the junior-high-school grades, the problem of 
constants, or of the common elements as they are called by Pro- 
fessor Bagley, is a matter of supreme importance. For very obvi- 
ous reasons, more work in more different subjects will be prescribed 
for all students in the junior high school than in the senior high 
school. To the prescription of English, social science, science, 
music, and physical education in the senior high school must be 
added arithmetic, geography, and probably the manual arts in the 
junior high school. Some great educational battles will be fought 
over the amount of time to be given to these constants in the junior 
high school and to the character of the subject-matter and method 
in these courses. The disagreement as to the content, organiza- 
tion, method, and length of the general science course is character- 
istic of the chaotic condition as regards these constants in the 
junior high school at the present time. The situation as regards 
general science is simply notorious, but the condition as regards 
mathematics, the social sciences, and, perhaps, some other subjects, 
is not less chaotic. Every development in these grades points 



182 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

clearly, however, to the general adoption of differentiation above 
the sixth grade. These constants will be permitted, therefore, to 
take only so much time as will allow opportunity for the working 
out of such definite curriculums as have been described above. 

The very fact that the number of constants will be greater in the 
junior high school than in the senior high school will make less 
difficult the problem of sequence and diversity. Once the battle 
has been fought and the constants agreed upon the matter of 
sequence and diversity will have been practically settled. There 
will be a sufficient number of constants running through two or 
three years of the junior high school to assure both the desired 
sequence and diversity. 

The North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary 
Schools in 1918 recommended that: 

The appropriate subjects for the junior high school may be classi- 
fied in the following groups : 

1. Mathematics; 2. Social Studies; 3. Natural Science; 4. Lan- 
guage; 5. Fine and Practical Arts such as Music, Drawing, Manual 
Arts, and Commercial Subjects. 

The administration of the program of subjects and courses shall 
be such as to avoid a stereotyped line of work for all junior high- 
school pupils, but sufficiently restricted as to insure for all pupils 
a wide distribution in the election of subjects and a continuity of 
at least two years' work in three different groups of the five junior 
high-school groups specified. It is further recommended that pro- 
vision be made for progress of pupils in accelerated, median, and 
slow groups. 

Perhaps the most comprehensive and at the same time 
definite of the considerations of the junior-high-school cur- 
riculum is that by Inglis.^ Because of its importance it is 
quoted in full. 

Below are outlined two forms of curriculum organization which 
are suggested as possible schemes for the junior high school — 
grades seven, eight, and nine. Neither, of course, is to be consid- 

^ Principles of Secondary Education, pp. 685-87. 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 183 



ered as the necessary or even the most desirable form of organiza- 
tion. The sole purpose in presenting the two forms of organization 
is to illustrate possible ways in which principles previously con- 
sidered may be applied. 



Grade 7 
Studies Periods 

Constants: 

English 5 

Geography (3), history 

(2) ,.-• 5 

Physiology and hygiene 3 

Arithmetic. 5 

Physical education 2 

Music (appreciation) . . 2 
Practical arts: domes- 
tic arts (girls); man- 
ual arts (boys) _5 

Total constants 27 

Variables: 
English: various 

branches for those 

deficient 2 

Arithmetic: for those 

deficient 2 

Foreign languages 5 

Fine arts 3 

Music (technical) 3 

Commercial studies ... 5 

Clerical studies 5 

Industrial studies 5 

Domestic studies. .... 5 

Agricultural studies . . . 5 

Total variables 4-8 

Notes: 



Form I 

Grades 
Studies Periods 

Constants: 

English 5 

History (D.S.), civics... 5 

General science 5 

Mathematics: (A )_ com- 
bined arithmetic, al- 
gebra, geometry; or 
(B) commercial 

arithmetic . . .^ 4 

Physical education .... 2 
Music (appreciation) . . . _2 

Total constants 23 

Variables: 
English: various 

branches for those 

deficient 2 

Foreign languages 5 

Fine arts 3 

Music (technical) 3 

Commercial studies . . . 5-10 

Clerical studies 5-10 

Industrial studies ..... 5-10 

Domestic studies 5—10 

Agricultural studies. . .5-10 



Total variables. . , . .8-12 



Grade 9 
Studies Periods 

Constants: 

English 6 

Community civics ... 5 

General science 5 

Physical education. . . 2 

Music (appreciation). 2 



Total constants ... 19 

Variables: 
Foreign languages ... 6 

Mathematics 5 

History 4 

Fine arts ... .^ 5 

Music (technical) S 

Commercial studies. 5-15 

Clerical studies 5-16 

Industrial studies. . .5-15 
Domestic studies . . . 5-15 
Agricultural studies. 5-15 



Total variables. .12-16 



1. The numbers of periods set are merely approximations and intended to be sug- 
gestive rather than fixed. 

2. The practical arts constant in the seventh grade may be made diagnostic 
"short-unit" courses if desired. 

3. It is not expected that all schools, perhaps not any school, will provide all the 
studies listed under variables. The extended list is presented for selection 
according to the needs and resources of any given school. 

4. It is expected that the more able pupils may pass directly from the eighth grade 
into the senior high schooL 

6. Definitely separated curriculums may be organized for special groups of pupils 
who will leave school at the close of the ninth grade, if that course appears 
justified. 

Form I illustrates a possible curriculum organization for a junior 
high school where no provision is made for supervised study or 
combined recitation-study periods. The number of class meetings 
is assumed to correspond to present practice in the seventh and 
eighth grades, that is, about thirty to thirty-five class meetings 
per week, the length of each period being approximately thirty 
minutes. 



184 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

Form II 

Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 9 

Studies Periods Studies Periods Studies Periods 

Constants: Constants: Constants: 

English 5 English 5 English ...... .^ 5 

Geography and history 5 History and civics 5 Community civics ... 4 

Arithmetic 6 General science 4 General science 4 

Physiology and hygiene 3 Mathematics . . _. 4 Physical education. . . 2 

Physical education.. . . 2 Physical education 2 ."" 

Practical arts 5 

Total constants 25 Total constants 20 Total constants 15 

Variables 5 Variables 10 Variables 15 

Notes: The notes appended to Form I apply here. The same studies as those in Form I 
are meant here. The variables are the same here as for Form I. 

Form n illustrates a possible curriculum organization where 
provision is made for combined recitation-study periods. The 
entire school day is assumed to be seven hours in length — one 
half-hour each day for assembly, opening exercises, music, and 
auditorium work, one half-hour each day for lunch, and six hours 
net (including time for changing classes) for class meetings, each 
period being one hour in length (inclusive of time for change of 
classes). The same program may be encompassed in a six-hour 
day where each period is made fifty minutes in length. 

Curricula offered. From a study of the curricula in 75 
junior high schools (only 31 having a ninth grade) Douglass * 
found that optional work was offered by 55 per cent of the 
schools in the seventh grade, by 67 per cent in the eighth, 
and by 97 per cent in the ninth. The details concerning 
the several subjects are displayed in Table XXIII as A; the 
details opposite B are from 18 cities which have junior high 
schools conforming to a definition that requires: (l) separate 
organization; (2) differentiated curricula; and (3) promo- 
tion by subject. The curricula of only six of these cities 
were considered by Douglass. The differences between the 
two groups of curricula are chiefly that the group of cities 

1 Douglass: The Junior High School, pp. 78-87. 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 



185 



TABLE XXIII 

Showing by Percentages the Offerings in Representative- 
Junior High Schools 

A, from Douglass data; B, from original data 







Seventh Grade 


Eighth Grade 


Ninth Grade 








'tt 






■^ 






-^ 










5 


1 

S 


■Si 


■to 
"1^ 


1 




1 






g' 


-2^ 


"o 


§^ 


>-> 


"o 


§^ 


u 
"«..» 


•V4 

O 






ft^ 


^ 


1^ 


c<5 


c^ 


;^ 


ft^ 


feq 


^ 


English 


A 
B 


100 
100 






100 
94 


6 




100 
100 






Social Sciences 


A 


100 




, . 


95 


4 


1 


29 


61 


io 




B 


62 


ik 


26 


83 


6 


11 


20 


47 


33 


Mathematics 


A 


100 




, , 


92 


8 


. . 


45 


55 






B 


100 


, . 




83 


11 


6 


67 


26 


'7 


Science 


A 


19 


8 


73 


24 


20 


56 


23 


74 


3 




B 


12 


19 


69 


17 


17 


66 


40 


33 


27 


Geography 


B 


63 


13 


24 


33 


. . 


67 




40 


60 


Hygiene 


A 


56 


8 


36 


56 


5 


39 


23 


35 


42 




B 


31 


, , 


69 


55 


22 


23 


13 


13 


74 


Foreign Languages 


A 


7 


40 


53 


7 


57 


36 


. . 


100 


. . 




B 


6 


75 


19 


6 


88 


6 




80 


20 


Art 


A 


64 


16 


20 


52 


23 


25 


26 


48 


26 




B 


69 


19 


12 


33 


33 


33 


7 


67 


36 


Music 


B 


63 


13 


24 


61 


22 


17 


40 


40 


20 


Industrial Arts 


A 


45 


32 


23 


37 


49 


14 


13 


74 


13 




B 


75 


25 


, , 


56 


33 


11 


13 


80 


7 


Commerce 


A 


1 


17 


82 


1 


32 


67 


, , 


55 


45 




B 




37 


63 


28 


11 


61 




73 


27 



with junior high schools tested by the definition offer a more 

generous program of studies and a larger number of options. 

In so far as the curricula from which the table is compiled 

are representative, Douglass found that 

the average curriculum for the first year of the junior high school 
is: English (6 periods per week), with reading, writing, grammar, 
spelling and penmanship taught separately or in rather poor co- 
ordination under the general heading; social science (5), presented 



186 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

as history and geography; mathematics (5), meaning arithmetic; 
physiology and hygiene (3) or physical training (2); drawing (2) 
and perhaps music (2); manual training (2) or domestic science (2). 
For the second junior-high-school year the average curriculum is: 
English (5) — much the same as that in the first year; history (5) 
or civics (5) ; arithmetic (5) ; physiology and hygiene (3) or physical 
training (2); music (2) or drawing (2); and an option between 
Latin or German (5) and manual or domestic science (2). 

Real differentiation is under way in the ninth grade. Here the 
only required subject is English, and options are allowed — under 
supervision — to the extent that the pupil practically selects his 
own work. He may choose among Latin and German, history, 
algebra, general science, music and drawing, manual or industrial 
arts and domestic science, and certain commercial subjects. 

As a result of studying the programs of seventy-jBve 
schools, Douglass attempted the diflficult task of classifica- 
tion. The results, which he declares to be "unsatisfactory 
on account of overlapping," are quoted: 

1. One type is made up of the common branches with no elec- 
tions until the ninth year, when a choice may be made among lan- 
guages, industrial arts, and perhaps science. This type often con- 
tains no manual- or domestic-arts courses. 

2. A second curriculum is essentially the same as the first, save 
that manual training and domestic science are found throughout. 
Language may usually be begun in the eighth grade. Here also 
are feeble beginnings at a systematization of subject-matter. 

3. A third type consists mainly of the common branches, with 
languages, manual training or industrial arts and domestic arts, 
science, and commerce, but the subject-matter is being subjected 
to an overhauling, condensation and elimination of non-essentials, 
and is being correlated with the elementary school from below and 
with the senior high school from above. In varying degrees, also, 
subject-matter is being given its social and economic setting. A 
few elections are given the first year; more opportunity for choice 
is given the second, while in the third year English is about the 
only required subject. Under the general heading several sub- 
types are found: 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 187 

(a) A general curriculum, in which the pupil elects such sub- 
jects as are not required of all. Sometimes statements are made 
to the effect that the pupil, the pupil's parents, and the principal or 
teachers cooperate in determining elections; frequently no such 
statement is made. Here elections seem to carry no further than 
the semester or year. This is a very common type. 

It would seem that this plan offers a wide range for individual 
development through its adaptability to individual differences, 
and certainly an ample chance for adjustment in case of a wrong 
choice. On the other hand, it might be objected that it does not 
make adequate provision for continuity of effort. 

(6) Another type combines the general-curriculum with the sepa- 
rate-curriculum plan. Except for more or less elective privileges 
in the seventh and eighth grades, work is the same for all; with the 
ninth grade, distinct curricula are provided, and these are carried 
into the senior high school. This seems to be a rudiment of the 
eight-four plan where differentiated work was provided beginning 
with the high school. It assumes that the ninth-grader has reached 
a place where he can choose more specialized work, and it aids him 
in his decision through elections during the two preceding years. 

(c) A common type is divided into two or more curricula, such 
as the "regular academic," the "industrial," and the "commer- 
cial." Here subjects like English, arithmetic and history, are the 
same for all pupils, and the curriculum is often named from one or 
two subjects that differ from the common stock. The main differ- 
ence between this and Type (a) seems to be that the pupil decides 
at the beginning what work he is to pursue for three years. 

Without doubt this plan tends to reduce to a minimum the dis- 
advantages of the elective system. It must assume, however, that 
no mistake has been made in selecting the courses to form a definite 
curriculum and that the pupil has chosen correctly. Sometimes 
provision is made for transfer, if it is shown that the pupil is clearly 
unfitted for the work he has chosen, but more often the pupil is 
given to understand that after the first year it will be diflBcult for 
him to change. Rarely are electives provided within the curricu- 
lum. Lack of flexibility at the time when ability should be tested 
in a number of fields seems to be the greatest fault of this type. 

{d) Another type is divided into two-year "cycles." To some 
extent options are given at the beginning of the seventh year, but 



188 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

the selection at this stage carries with it certain subjects or courses 
and perhaps another cycle as well. At the beginning of the ninth 
grade a second and even more important selection is demanded. 

This method aims at giving the benefit of the elective system 
and at the same time to insure that continuity of effort which may 
be lacking in a curriculum consisting largely of free electives. 
Since a cycle contains a group of subjects, there should also be a 
closer coordination of work. The work is, however, relatively 
unchangeable for two years. 

4. Another type provides several different curricula, in which 
subjects and courses are widely differentiated. Thus, English or 
arithmetic, varying but little from the traditional course, is pro- 
vided for pupils who expect to complete the high school and to 
enter college; commercial or industrial English or arithmetic for 
pupils whose aptitudes seem to be for this kind of work or whose 
vocational destinations will probably be the commercial or indus- 
trial world. This scheme involves also segregation as to sex. The 
sexes may be handled together in certain "cultural" subjects, 
while in the industrial subjects they receive separate instruction. 
In accordance with this view, there is no call for segregation in the 
"academic" curriculum and but little reason for segregation in the 
"commercial" curriculum, excepting when these pupils take man- 
ual training, domestic science, physiology and physical training. 
However, the sexes are kept separate to the degree that science, 
history, mathematics and the like will differ when founded upon 
home-making on the one hand and upon industrial arts on the 
other. Others believe that segregation possesses value in itself. 

This plan has been objected to on the ground that it provides a 
narrow training. A curriculum based entirely upon commercial 
or industrial branches, it is said, can hardly have the breadth of one 
including these subjects as electives. Moreover, pupils in these 
different lines of work are liable not to acquire a sufficient amount 
of the knowledge that ought to be common to all. The plan is 
defended on the ground that it provides the best possible means 
for individual differences and that knowledge really essential may 
be presented just as easily in a commercial or industrial setting. 

5. Whatever may be the general plan adopted, a number of 
superintendents are providing two- or three-year curricula for 
pupils who expect to leave school at the end of the eighth or ninth 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 189 

school-year, and who, as a consequence, desire training productive 
of immediate financial returns. This training is for the most part 
along commercial, industrial and home-making lines, and these 
lines are closely articulated with commerce, the industries and the 
home. It is realized that difficulty will arise in the planning of 
other work should a pupil desire to remain in school at the end of 
this tune, and some are taking steps to remedy this trouble. 

6. Gary has often been said to possess a junior high school, not 
because of outward features of organization, but because of the 
educational principles upon which the system is founded. . . . 

7. In the course of the junior-high-school reorganization into 
prevocational departments, fragments have split off — the indus- 
trial arts department withdrawmg to form a separate elementary 
industrial or prevocational school. But, though narrowed to the 
industries, these schools still possess striking vocational guidance 
functions. In some localities schools are provided for "motor- 
minded" students; in others, all students are given this work. 

In the North Central Territory Davis ^ found that 52.2 
per cent of the junior high schools give the pupils a choice 

TABLE XXIV 

Per cent of Junior High Schools in the North Central 
Territory offering Several Subjects as Electives 

Latin 27.6 

Modern foreign language 27 . 3 

Algebra 24 . 2 

General science 30 . 4 

Manual training 88 . 7 

Domestic science and arts 88 . 4 

Drawing 75 .4 

Music 71 . 7 

Agriculture 25 . 9 

Ancient history 3.8 

General history of modern Europe 6.5 

Commercial work 16.7 

Distinctive vocational work 5.1 

Printing 8.2 

1 School Review, vol. 26, pp. 326-28. 



190 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ' 



of curricula or subjects. The percentage offering eacb of 
several elective subjects is shown in Table XXIV. 

Davis reports also that of the 293 junior high schools of 
the North Central Territory 34.8 per cent have definitely 
outlined curricula, 25.3 per cent allow election by curricula, 

TABLE XXV 

Showing the Kinds of Industrial Work offered for Boys by 
173 Junior High Schools and the Number of Schools 
offering Each Kind 

None 20 



Agricultural: 

Agriculture 19 

Gardening 7 

Pomology 1 

Dairying 1 

Drainage 1 

Farm shop-work 2 

Hot-bed construction , 1 

Buying, selling, and marketing. 1 

Industrial: 

Woodwork. 77 

Carpentry 48 

Manual training 23 

Pattern-making 11 

Repair work 5 

Turning 2 

Millwork 2 

Furniture 1 

Boat-building 1 

Building trades 1 

Painting 13 

Cement work 11 

Applied drawing 33 

Drafting 1 

Sketching 1 

Bricklaying 11 



Industrial: 

Forging 5 

Blacksmithing 2 

Machine shop 15 

Metal work 26 

Tinning 1 

Foundry 1 

Molding 1 

Automobile repair ... 4 

Gas engine 1 

Electrical work 15 

Plumbing 3 

Engineering 1 

Applied mathematics 1 

Tailoring 1 

Rug-making 1 

Basketry 1 

Reedwork 1 

Bookbinding 3 

Shoe repairing 2 

Barbering 1 

Butchering 1 

Cooking 11 

Printing 37 

Bill-posting i 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 191 

and 48.5 per cent allow election of subjects. These latter 
proportions, it will be noted, are somewhat smaller than for 
the schools Douglass used as representative. 

Of the 182 junior high schools answering the question for 
this study 67, or 37 per cent, report that they have fully 
differentiated curricula, though the term is not defined; and 
14, or an additional 7.5 per cent, report that they have 
partly differentiated curricula. Of the 182 schools, 116, 
or 63.7 per cent, offer an academic curriculum; 94, or 51.6 
per cent, a commercial; 94, or 51.6 per cent, a practical arts; 
and 23, or 12.6 per cent, a special trade. 

The kinds of industrial work offered for boys and the 
number of schools, of 173 reporting, that offer each kind, 
are shown in Table XXV. The variety, which is astound- 
ing, shows either a vagueness as to educational values or else 
a serious attempt to meet local needs, — probably both. 

Of 198 schools reporting on this topic, 134, or 67.7 per 

cent, say that they have modified none of their subjects 

in content, method of treatment, and difficulty of mastery 

with reference to the "curriculum setting" in which they 

appear. This is a disappointing report, unless, as is entirely 

possible, the question was because of its terminology not 

understood. Of the remaining 64 schools 13 answer merely 

"Yes." The 53 that answered the question as stated report 

that they have modified the subjects as following with 

regard to their curriculum setting; 

No. Per cent 

English 27 50.9 

Spelling 1 1.9 

Penmanship 1 1.9 

Typing 1 1.9 



192 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

No. Per cent 

Foreign languages 2 3.8 

History 16 30.2 

Geography 6 11.3 

Drawing 4 7.6 

Mathematics 45 84 . 9 

General science 5 9 A 

Shop-work 1 1.9 

Practical arts 2 3.8 



An effort was made to ascertain the school subjects in 
which the course of study has been materially changed from 
that used in the grammar grades or in the first year of the 
high school. Of 191 schools answering, 27, or 14.1 per cent, 
admit that they have made no changes whatever. Judged 
by the interviews with a few of the principals who have 
made no changes in the courses of study, it is safe to say 
that almost without exception they are in varying degrees 
dissatisfied with some of the work now offered but that they 
lack vision, a definiteness of purpose, and the energy to 
initiate changes. The usual excuse is that "we haven't 
got around to that yet." Inasmuch as the courses of study 
for so large a proportion of our conventional schools are 
determined by textbooks, it is probably useless to expect 
material changes in any considerable number of intermediate 
schools until textbooks and syllabi indicate in detail what 
may and should be done. 

The extent to which the 191 schools reporting profess to 
have made material changes in their courses of study may 
be seen in Table XXVI. Mathematics of several kinds is 
said to be materially changed in 51.8 per cent of these 
schools; the several sciences, in 47.1 per cent; English, in 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 193 

45.5 per cent; some one of the foreign languages, in 41.9 per 
cent; and history and civics, in 36.1 per cent. 

TABLE XXVI 
Showing the Number of 191 Junior High Schools professing 

TO HAVE MADE MATERIAL CHANGES IN THE CoURSES OF StUDY 

FOR THE Several Subjects 

Number of 

Subject schools Per cent 

English 87 47.1 

Spelling 6 3.1 

Penmanship ^ ■'^ 

Commercial subjects 10 5.2 

Languages ^1 11.0 

Latin 25 13.1 

French H ^ '^ 

German 18 9.4 

Spanish 5 2.9 

History 51 26.2 

Civics 18 9-4 

Music 8 4.2 

Fine arts 8 4.2 

Applied art 5 2.9 

Mathematics 31 16.2 

Arithmetic 56 29.3 

Algebra 12 ^^ 

**Science" 43 22.5 

Agriculture 6 3.1 

Civic biology 1 -5 

Geography 31 16 . 2 

Hygiene '^ ^-^ 

Physiology 2 1.0 

Industrial subjects 9 4.7 

Manual training 19 ^0 

Home economics 14 7.3 

Physical training 4 2.1 

All subjects 3 1.5 

Many subjects 1 -5 

None 27 14.1 



194 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



It should be noted that we are not warranted in conclud- 
ing that 166 (191 — 25) schools have made no change in the 
Latin work, that 186 have made no change in the Spanish, 
etc., for certainly all of the 191 schools reporting did not 
offer Latin, Spanish, or most of the other subjects that are 
commonly taught only in the high schools. Of the schools 
reporting, 86 per cent had already by 1917 made what they 
consider material change in some phase or phases of their 
work. This argues well for the future. 

It has already been stated (page 172) that fewer than 
five per cent of 241 principals responding oppose the explo- 
ration of pupils' interests, aptitudes, and abilities by means 
of general courses. The extent to which such courses were 
in 1917 offered in the several years of junior high schools 
may be seen in Table XXVII. 



TABLE XXVII 

Showing the Numbers of Junior High Schools offering 
General Exploratory Courses in Several Subjects 



Year 


General 
science 


Composite 
mathematics 


General 
history 


General 
social 
science 


Reading 

and 
literature 


None 
VII 
VIII 
IX 


11 

36 

101 

111 


28 

29 

101 

78 


27 
29 
28 
56 


31 
9 

27 
21 


12 

58 
89 
90 


Totals 
Reporting 


259 


236 


140 


88 


249 



CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 195 

Two hundred and fifty-nine schools report on the general 
introductory science; the fact that the number reporting on 
the other subjects falls as low as 88 may be interpreted as 
indicating that for the most part the schools not offering 
such subjects do not trouble to fill in answers. Assuming 
that this is true, we should find that of 259 junior high 
schools the percentages offering general science is 95.4; 
general mathematics, combining arithmetic, algebra, and 
the simple elements of geometry or trigonometry, or both* 
80.0; general history, 43.5; general social science, 21.9; a 
course of extensive reading and study of literature, 91.2. 
The actual numbers of schools and the percentages on the 
basis of all reporting on any of these subjects are highly grati- 
fying to those who believe that progress for the intermediate 
school should be in this direction. 

After studying the data given in this report and those 
by Douglass and Davis, one cannot but be convinced of a 
general and widespread dissatisfaction with curricula and 
courses of study for the intermediate grades; of a lack of 
definiteness in programs for reform; of approval by the 
country at large of earlier differentiation after exploratory 
courses; and of an astounding amount of variation in prac- 
tice. This "groping, testing, passing on" is probably neces- 
sary for progress. In the meantime we may be very sure 
that many schools will profess to have reorganized when 
they have made only "paper changes" in both organization 
and courses. We shall profit most by considering the real 
changes that have been made and their results. 

The extent to which curricula and courses are elected. 
The extent to which the several curricula and courses are 



196 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

elected in representative schools will now be shown. In 

Rochester the three curricula were in 1916 elected by the 

following percentages of the junior and senior high school 

pupils. 

TABLE XXVIII 

Showing Curriculum Elections in Rochester, New York, 1916 

Junior Senior 

High School Curriculum High School 

33 General or college preparatory 66 

33 Commercial 27 

34 Trade 7 

In Los Angeles there was in 1916 a wide divergence in the 
different schools in the percentages of pupils electing the 
different courses. This, of course, is as it should be, for the 
schools draw from very different types of homes; Berendo, 
for instance, is a suburban school drawing from well-to-do 

TABLE XXIX 

Showing the Percentages of 6311 Pupils electing Various 
Curricula in the Junior High Schools of Los Angeles, 
1916 



School 


Literary- 
scientific 


General 
elective 


Com- 
mercial 


Mechan- 
ic arts 


Home 
economics 


English 
prepara- 
tory 


Berendo 


61 

40 
48 
39 
48 
59 
82 
55 


19 
21 
14 
12 

2 
10 

3 
12 


12 
17 
31 
11 
23 
16 
5 
14 


2 
2 
.1 
8 
7 
3 
1 
2 


2 

12 

.1 

20 

14 

7 

1 

8 


S 


Boyle Heights 

Custer Avenue 

Fourteenth Street . 
McKinley Avenue. 
Sentous 


5 

4 

10 

7 

3 


Virgil 


4 


Thirtieth Street... 


8 


Total 


51 


12 


16 


7 


9 


6 







CURRICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 197 

and educated families, while 14th Street enrolls almost en- 
tirely the children of the lowly. The six curricula were 
elected in eight intermediate schools by the percentages of 
6311 pupils indicated in Table XXIX. 

In Oakland, California, the same optional subjects are 
not offered in all the schools. Where offered the subjects 
were elected in 1917 by the percentages of pupils indicated 
in Table XXX. 

TABLE XXX 

Showing the Percentages of Junior-High-School Pupils 
ELECTING Various Subjects in Oakland, 1917 

Subjects Percentages Subjects Percentages 

Latin 21 Extra freehand drawing 13 

German 23 Mechanical drawing 3 

French 32 Extra manual training 18 

Spanish 28 Extra sewiQg 9 

Science 75 Extra cooking 18 

Instrumental music. 16 Vocational work (vocational school). 52 

Extra vocal music. . 32 Typewriting 22 

In two Minneapolis junior high schools the elective sub- 
jects were chosen by the approximate percentages of 816 

TABLE XXXI 

Showing the Percentages op 816 Pupils electing Various 
Subjects in the Junior High Schools of Minneapolis 

Subjects Percentages 

Extra English 4 

A modern foreign language 20 

Shop-work 57 

Agriculture 17 

Home economics 43 

Commercial subjects 19 

Printing 6 



198 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL' 

pupils indicated in Table XXXI, allowance being made for 
enrollment by sex. 

In three Richmond, Virginia, junior high schools subjects 
were chosen by the percentages of 1732 pupils indicated in 
Table XXXII. 

TABLE XXXII 

Showing the Percentages op 1732 Pupils choosing Various 
Subjects in the Junior High Schools of Richmond, Vir- 
ginia 

Subjects Percentages Subjects Percentages 

Business English 27 Algebra 5 

Latin 18 Elementary science 6 

French 7 Typewriting 16 

German 7 Bookkeeping 9 

Spanish 4 

To what extent pressure is exerted on pupils to elect 
certain curricula it is, of course, impossible to ascertain with 
any degree of accuracy; but it must be considerable. In 
some schools only the more able pupils are permitted to 
elect a foreign language, and observation leads to the con- 
clusion that the general attitude of the principal or super- 
intendent is very potent, even where teacher advisers are 
at work, to determine a pupil's curriculum. An attitude 
changed by experience is revealed in two reports from Butte, 
Montana. In 1914 the principal of the junior high school 
wrote: 

If there is the slightest doubt in the pupil's mind regarding the 
possibility of his finishing high school, he should elect the voca- 
tional course. 

Two years later the same principal reported: 



CUBEICULA AND COURSES OF STUDY 199 

Experience with this double course revealed to us that a large 
number of pupils who intended to go on to higher institutions 
chose the vocational course, thereby breaking down the real func- 
tion of this dual differentiation. We furthermore observed that 
many students whom we were assured would not go on to high 
school chose the general course because, as we believed, they felt 
a social stigma attached to the vocational course. With the 
present (single) course this differentiation has disappeared and all 
students mingle upon a similar educational basis. 

But with the single course this school offered a number of 
electives, thus providing for differentiation. 



CHAPTER VII 

METHODS OF TEACfflNG 

One purpose in the establishment of junior high schools has 
been the improvement of instruction for pupils of early 
adolescence. While it is recognized that methods in the 
lower elementary grades are probably more sound than any- 
where else in the public-school system and that there has 
also been a betterment of teaching in the high school as 
well, most schoolmen agree that there is need for a peculiar 
adaptation to pupils of the intermediate period. In the 
grammar grades methods that have proved effective with 
younger pupils are at present too long continued, and in the 
ninth grade are frequently assigned the younger and less 
experienced teachers who have neither intimate knowledge 
of boys and girls nor skill in instruction. 

It is of vital importance [says the report of the High-School 
Masters' Club of Massachusetts ^] that the methods of the high 
school shall not be thrust upon the junior high school. It is 
equally important that the methods of the lower grades shall not 
be continued. A wise compromise between the two methods of 
teaching miust be sought. The developing individuality and men- 
tal traits of the pupil in early adolescence must be recognized by 
methods of presenting the subjects of study, and more may safely 
be left to the initiative of the pupil than in the lower grades; but 
at the same time the beginner in the junior high school must not 
be abruptly thrown on his own responsibility as he generally has 
been in the past on entrance to the high school. 

1 Page 37. 



METHODS OF TEACHING 201 

Superintendent H. B. Wilson states that "the teaching 
methods should approximate those by good high-school 
teachers who remember that they are teaching children 
rather than subjects." Of 61 selected judges 72.1 per cent 
consider ^ essential for the junior high school methods be- 
tween those of the elementary and of the high schools, and 
85.3 per cent consider such methods desirable; 90.1 per cent 
consider it desirable that the junior high school use methods 
that encourage initiation on the part of pupils. 

Snedden advocates ^ a change from the traditional methods of 
drill and memory and formal analysis, by which external bits of 
memory are acquired, to natural methods based on the nature 
of the learning process. He would have methods grow out of edu- 
cational experimentation in all the varied school activities. He 
advocates that methods be in keeping with the new and variable 
types of subject-matter to be introduced into the junior high 
school, methods capable of adaptation to individual differences, 
methods that shall reveal to the pupil his capacities and develop 
power in expression, departmental teaching or the Gary plan of 
allied groups, short unit courses in the practical arts with the 
project method. He states that the work of these years has too 
much of repetition and memory drills and that it lacks vitality.^ 

Davis makes much of the necessity of adapting methods 
to the early adolescent. He says : ^ 

At this period self -consciousness is born. The interests that 
formerly held dominant sway are cast aside. New motives stir, 
new aspirations fire, new goals beckon. Conscious logical reason 
begins to proclaim itself. The mind is no longer satisfied with 
mere empirical facts, but it demands that the facts be presented 
in their essential relations. ... To employ with him the methods 



^ Briggs: Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 5, p. 283. • 
^ Problems of Educational Readjustment. 

^ Quoted from Childs: Reorganization Movement in the Grammar Grades 
of Indiana Schools, p. 51. 

* Johnston: High-School Education, pp. 69-70. 



Q02 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

of instruction and training of the elementary schools is to provoke 
him to truancy, encourage him to evade school work, and impel 
him to forsake school duties altogether. 

The foregoing quotations illustrate the general sentiment 
that there is need for the adaptation of teaching to the 
peculiar characteristics of pupils of twelve to fifteen years of 
age. But it would be futile to hope or expect any mere 
administrative reorganization to effect a radical change in 
methods of instruction. Observation of the teaching itself 
in many classes leaves a sense of disappointment. Although 
one may safely state that by and large it is better than the 
pupils would ordinarily have received, the impression is 
deep that reorganization offers an opportunity rather than 
assures an ideal. Results are conditioned by the clearness 
of ideal, on the part of both administrators and teachers; 
the source, training, previous experience, and supervision of 
the teachers; the grouping of the pupils; the adoption and 
administration of supervised study, the project method, and 
the socialized recitation; the content of the courses of 
study and the textbooks used. The fact that the junior 
high school has no traditions and few restrictions from 
above makes the introduction of reforms comparatively 
easy; consequently it is in this field of secondary education 
that progress may most easily be made. 

It will be shown that junior-high-school teachers are 
drawn from a variety of sources, but that there is a dis- 
tinct tendency to promote for the new work those experi- 
enced in the grammar grades, providing they possess or 
acquire the needed subject-matter. Although teachers are 
likely to continue much of the method that they have previ- 



METHODS OF TEACHING 203 

ously used, they also are strongly influenced by the pupils 
in a class and to considerable extent by other pupils under 
their instruction at other times of the day. This is an argu- 
ment, therefore, for the homogeneous grouping of pupils 
and for their segregation in an organization separate from 
that for those considerably younger or older. In no place 
is supervision of instruction so likely to make quick and 
profitable returns as in a newly organized junior high school, 
where the teachers are seeking guidance as to their objec- 
tives and methods. 

Of 254 junior high schools answering on this topic, 107, 
or 42.1 per cent, say that their methods of teaching have 
been influenced most by those used in the elementary school; 
118, or 46.5 per cent, say by those used in the high school; 
26, or 10.2 per cent, say "by both"; and 3, or 1.2 per cent, 
say "by neither." 

Two hundred and eight junior high schools reply to the 
question, "Have you really succeeded in combining the best 
features of both the elementary and the high-school meth- 
ods?" Of these 172, or 82.7 per cent, say that they have; 
30, or 14.4 per cent, say that they have not; and the remain- 
ing 6 "don't know." Most of those who admit that they 
have not so far succeeded in this, volunteer that it is their 
aim and that they will attain it in time. Forty-two schools 
say that there has been little change in methods, and 35 
assert that there has been much. 

A. Supervised Study 

The adoption of supervised study, the project method, or 
the socialized recitation inevitably results in some modifica- 



204 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

tion of teaching methods, the amount of change depending 
chiefly on the preparation made and the supervision afforded. 
Supervised study, or directed learning, attractive in its pro- 
gram and generally approved in theory, has by common 
testimony disappointed those who expected it to bring great 
improvement in results, primarily because it involves the 
most fundamental principles of education. The lengthened 
and divided period automatically improves conditions in 
that it insures for all pupils a place and a time for study and 
in that it affords to the teacher an opportunity to see that 
his assignment is understood and is of reasonable length; 
but beyond these details lie the real value and the real diffi- 
culty of the plan. To administer it successfully teachers 
must know what study is, and they must be skilled in the 
technique of learning. ^ Such knowledge and skill are neither 
easily acquired nor easily transmitted to pupils. Again 
painstaking supervision is necessary if the maximum of good 
is to be secured. 

SujDervised^jtu^ is very generally approved for the 
junior high school. The Commission of the North Central 
Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools recommended 
in 1918 

that a junior high school shall at least make coordinate its empha- 
sis upon the direction of study and the traditional activity of 
reciting. It recognizes that different subjects in the junior-high- 
school curriculum may require different distributions of time be- 
tween recitation and study. It recommends further that every 
junior high school provide definite and suitable places for study 
under expert supervision. 

1 See Dewey's How We Think, and Interest and Effort in Education; 
Colvin's The Learning Process and An Introduction to High School Teach- 
ing; and Whipple's How to Study Effectively., 



METHODS OF TEACHING 205 

On the basis of his study of the causes of failure of high- 
school pupils Bowden concludes ^ that supervised study is 
of especial importance at the beginning of the junior-high- 
school period. 

The plans for directing study vary somewhat, but chiefly 
they provide that the period be divided, one half for study 
and one half for recitation. At the Ben Blewett Junior 
High School study occupies from one third to two thirds of 
the period. "Actual supervised study for an individual 
consists in helping him to read with a purpose, to get the 
content of the written page, and to make use of data selected 
for a definite end." ^ Several schools report that some teach- 
ers so inadequately understood the plan of supervised study 
or had so failed to master old habits that the principal had 
to revoke the privilege of permitting them to use any desired 
part of the period for "teaching"; in three schools pupils 
actually petitioned that a bell be rung at the half-period to 
compel the teachers to stop talking so that study might 
begin. At the Washington Junior High School of Rochester 
the periods are eighty minutes in length, and "to the indi- 
vidual teachers are left the details of management within 
the general provision of three branches — review, assign- 
ment, and silent study." ^ At Vallejo, California, every 
deficient pupil must go to his teacher at a designated period, 
and once in two weeks each class is given at the beginning 
of the school day a period in which the teacher instructs 
the pupils how to study for the next two weeks. 

Of 267 junior high schools reporting on this topic, 51, or 

* School and Society, vol. 6, p. 448. 

2 School Review, vol. 28, p. 106. 3 Hid,^ p. 197. 



206 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

19.1 per cent, say that they do not have a part of each period 
set aside for supervised study; 175, or 65.5 per cent, say that 
they have; and the remaining 41, or 15.4 per cent, have 
supervised study in some subjects, with some teachers, in 
stated years, or irregularly. These returns correspond 
closely with the 59.04 per cent of the junior high schools of 
the North Central territory that Davis reports as having 
supervised study. 

Two hundred and four schools reported as to the results: 
68, or one third, say that they are excellent; 109, or 53.4 
per cent, that they are good; 26, or 12.8 per cent, that they 
are fair; and one that "we have not used it long enough to 
telL'* 

B. Home Study 

Methods of teaching are influenced to some extent by the 
amount of home study required. Two hundred and sixty- 
one schools gave data concerning the amount normally 
expected, but 56 returned answers that were indefinite or 
qualified, as may be seen in Table XXXIII. The median 
amount of home study normally expected by the 205 schools 
replying definitely is 60 minutes. Of the schools reporting, 

70.2 per cent expect from 40 to 90 minutes. The modes, it 
will be noticed, are 0, 45, 60, 90, and 120 minutes. 

Davis ^ found in the North Central territory that of 277 
schools reporting on the item, 37, or 13.3 per cent, had 
periods of SO minutes; 166, or 59.9 per cent, had periods of 
81-45 minutes; 58, or 20.9 per cent, had periods of 46-60 
minutes; and 16, or 5.8 per cent, had periods of over 60 
minutes. 

1 Sehod Usi:mWs voL ^» p. S27. (Perccaitages corrected.) 



METHODS OF TEACHING 207 

TABLE XXXin 

Showing the Amount of Home Study in Minutes normally 

EXPECTED EACH SCHOOL DaY OF PuPILS IN ^Q5 JuNIOR HiGH 

Schools 

Minutes per day No. of schools Minutes per day No. of schools 

20 70 10 

15 2 80 2 

20 1 90 30 

30 7 100 3 

35 2 110 3 

40 4 120 24 

45 11 130 1 

50 1 150 1 

60 86 240 1 

None in seventh grade 4 schools 

None in seventh and eighth grades 4 schools 

"Very httle" 38 schools 

"Varies" 2 schools 

"Some in ninth grade" 3 schools 

"Only in languages" 1 school 

Law prohibits home study for pupils under 

15 years of age (California) 4 schools 

C. Project Teaching and the Socialized Recitation 
Project teaching ^ and the socialized recitation, ^ closely 
associated in both theory and practice, are also widely ap- 
proved for junior high schools. Fifty-nine per cent of 
Briggs's selected judges consider ^ it essential, and 90.1 per 

1 See the bibliography published by the United States Bureau of Edu- 
cation: Library Leaflet No. 9, November, 1919, and the annotated bibli- 
ography in Teachers College Record, vol. 21, pp. 150-74. See especially 
Kilpatriek: Teachers College Record, vol. 29, pp. 319-35; Snedden: School 
and Society, vol. 4, pp. 419-23; and Ruch: School and Society, vol. 11, 
pp. 386-87. 

^ See Hunter: Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 3, pp. 
387-406; Gaston: English Journal, vol. 8, pp. 1-7; and Burns: Education^ 
vol. 39, pp. 176-81. 

* Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 5, p. 283. 



208 THE JBNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

cent consider it desirable that the junior high schools use 
many projects. Like supervised study they are difficult 
of successful administration because of their demands on 
information, attitude, ingenuity, and industry. 

In the schools visited there was relatively a considerable 
amount of project teaching, most in industrial work for boys 
and domestic science for girls, and less in general science, 
geography, civics, English composition, and the use of the 
library. 

One hundred and fifty-eight schools replied to the ques- 
tion, "Do you believe in the regular employment of the 
project method? " Nine frankly stated that they were not 
sufficiently informed as to the method to express an opinion 
— a position probably shared by many who did not reply. 
Of the remaining schools, 118, or 79.2 per cent, said that 
they believe in the employment of the project method regu- 
larly; 18, or 12.1 per cent, that they believe in it "to a cer- 
tain extent"; and 13, or 9 per cent, that they do not. 

The socialized recitation was seen less frequently than 
project teaching. It was best exemplified at Lincoln, 
Nebraska, where careful preparation and supervision has 
made it common and effective in both the elementary and 
the junior high schools. Combined with the project, it was 
being admirably used in combined civics and composition. 

D. Textbooks 

It is generally recognized that in most schools textbooks 
determine the methods of teaching probably more than any 
other factor. In the beginning, junior high schools were 
forced to use texts prepared for elementary schools or in tjie 



METHODS OF TEACHING 209 

new subjects those for pupils usually one to four years older. 
There soon followed a series of books '* adapted" for the 
junior high school, the adaptation being more apparent on 
the cover and title-page than in the body of the text. 

As the number of junior high schools increased and as 
their purposes became clearer, pubhshers began to issue 
especially prepared textbooks, notably in mathematics and 
general science. At the present time, influenced largely by 
the several special subject reports of the Commission on the 
Reorganization of Secondary Education, they are spreading 
to other fields, so that it will not be long before there are m 
all subjects textbooks quite as adequate for the junior high 
school as other books are now for the elementary or semor 

high schools. 

It may safely be asserted that by and large the new texts 
are considerably more in harmony with advanced educa- 
tional theory than those which are being replaced. In so 
far as they are sound, their success or failure will be deter- 
mined largely by the readiness of the teachers to adapt their 
methods to the principles which are theoretically established 
and successfully used by those who are well prepared. 

In methods of teaching, as in the curricula and courses 
of study, there is at the present time an opportunity for 
reform in the junior high school that will not come again 
after habits and traditions are estabhshed, as they are in the 
older types of institutions. What will be done with the 
opportunity depends in part on the teachers selected, but 
chiefly on the clarity of purpose and constant supervision 
by those professionally trained for the work. 



CHAPTER VIII 

TEACHERS AND SALARIES 

The success of any educational institution depends primarily 
on its teachers. Even when the purposes are clear, the 
courses of study well determined, the principles of discipline 
developed by experience, and traditions established, teach- 
ers make or mar the success of the organization. In the 
junior high school, where many details are relatively new 
and where in consequence much pioneering must be done, 
the importance of the teachers is correspondingly magnified. 
Superintendent Simmonds, of Lewiston, Idaho, says that 
"securing the proper teachers for the junior high school is 
a thousand times more vital than the curriculum." More- 
over, the pioneering must be done in what Hollister, with 
the approval of the majority of schoolmen, calls "the most 
trying stage of common-school education." "A teacher [in 
the junior high school] needs far more resourcefulness, not 
only to meet the changeableness of youth wisely, but also 
to adapt various methods of presentation to individual 
capacities. A senior-high-school class is a far more homo- 
geneous group than one in the junior high school." ^ 

Granting the difficulties of pioneering and the peculiar 
problems of early adolescence, when boys and girls become 
unusually restive, one would expect administrators, at the 

1 Assistant Superintendent E. Marie Gugle, Prospectus for Junior High 
Schools, Columbus, Ohio, 1915. 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES 211 

beginning of a junior high school, to make the most serious 
effort to acquaint the teachers with the definite purposes of 
the new institution, to reveal in a large way the possibilities, 
not only in the school as a whole, but in the special subjects 
of study, and to suggest some means for accomplishing 
the ends desired. One would expect, too, provisions in the 
beginning, at least, for the most careful supervision. Un- 
fortunately these expectations have in no general way 
been satisfied. As already pointed out, many junior high 
schools have been established with an inadequate concep- 
tion, even on the part of the administration, of purpose 
and possibilities; and there is abundant evidence that 
the majority of teachers in the new schools have been left 
largely to their own resources in determining and directing 
their work. That these teachers have had so large a meas- 
ure of success is a tribute to their own initiative and good 
sense. The hope of the movement for reorganization lies 
partly in those teachers who have worked out the problem 
for themselves, but it lies even more in the schools in which 
there has been coordinated effort between administrators 
and teachers to develop plans looking toward clearly per- 
ceived goals. 

The data in this chapter will tend to discourage a reader 
who has set the ideals of the movement high, especially if he 
fails to contrast them with the facts concerning teachers in 
schools of the older type of organization. Coffman,^ from 
a study in 1911 of 5215 teachers in 17 States, draws the 
following conclusions: 

* The Social Composition of the Teaching Population, pp. 79-80. There is 
also given^ on pp. 80-81, a characterization of the typical female teacher. 



212 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

The typical American male public-school teacher is twenty-nii le 
years of age, having begun teaching when he was almost twenty 
years of age after he had received but three or four years of train- 
ing beyond the elementary school. In the nine years elapsing 
between the age he began teaching and his present age, he has had 
seven years of experience, and his salary at the present time is $489 
a year. Both of his parents were living when he entered teaching 
and both spoke the English language. They had an annual in- 
come from their farm of $700 which they were compelled to use 
to support themselves and their four or five children. 

His first experience as a teacher was secured in the rurai schools, 
where he remained for two years at a salary of $390 per year. He 
found it customary for rural-school teachers to have only three 
years of training beyond the elementary school, but in order for 
him to advance to a town-school position he had to get an addi- 
tional year of training. He also found that in case he wished to 
become a city-school teacher that two more years of training, or 
six in all beyond the elementary school, were needed. 

His salary increased rather regularly during the first six years 
of his experience, or until he was about twenty-six years of age. 
After that he found that age and experience played a rather insig- 
nificant part in determining his salary, but that training still 
afiPorded him a powerful leverage. 

In Bulletin 44 (1915) of the United States Bureau of 
Education are given data concerning the requirements for 
teachers in 1311 towns and cities with populations between 
2500 and 30,000. There we are informed that only 69.2 
per cent of these cities require their high-school teachers to 
be college graduates and that 54.6 per cent of them employ 
as high-school teachers college graduates without experi- 
ence; that only 36.2 per cent require their elementary-school 
teachers to be normal-school graduates, and that 48.1 per 
cent of the cities will even accept as teachers graduates of 
high schools, and that 14.3 per cent of the cities employ 
high-school graduates without experience. Additional data. 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES 213 

of similar depressing effect, regarding the immaturity, prepa- 
ration, and brevity of service of teachers are presented in 
Bulletin No. 3 by the National Education Association Com- 
mission on the National Program in Education, 1918; and 
since that date standards have been generally lowered be- 
cause of the scarcity of teachers for the salaries offered. 

State requirements for junior-high-school teachers. Sev- 
eral States have made ojfficial requirements or recommenda- 
tions concerning the qualifications of junior-high-school 
teachers. In 1916 the California State Board of Education 
adopted regulations to the effect that 

holders of elementary-school certificates who have completed two 
years of work in a college, or one year of work in a college in addi- 
tion to a normal-school course, may teach in the third year of any 
intermediate-school course, provided they comply with the follow- 
ing regulations : 

Candidates who are not graduates of normal schools must have 
completed at least sixty semester hours in regular college courses, 
including at least ten hours of pedagogy, and at least ten hours 
each in any three of the following departments : English, French, 
German, Spanish, Latin, History, Mathematics, Physical Science, 
Biological Science. Candidates who have had twenty months of 
experience are required to take only five units of pedagogy. 
Candidates who are graduates of accredited normal schools must 
have completed in regular college courses at least thirty semester 
hours, including at least ten hours each in any two of the subjects 
enumerated above. 

The Minnesota State High-School Board in 1916 approved 
the recommendation that "graduates of the special three- 
year course of Minnesota State Normal Schools" be con- 
sidered qualified to teach in junior high schools. The Ohio 
State Department of Education ^ in 1917 decided that 

^ The Junior High School: Manual of Requirements and Suggestionst 
Columbus, 1917. 



214 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

the scholastic attainments required of teachers of third-grade high 
schools shall likewise constitute the standards of scholarship re- 
quired of teachers of junior high schools. It will be understood, 
however, that this training shall in all cases include special study 
of junior-high-school methods of teaching. 

The attainments required of teachers of third-grade high 
schools are as follows: 

All teachers shall be graduates of first-grade high schools, and in 
addition thereto shall have done at least one year of collegiate 
work or have scholastic attainment equivalent to that represented 
by the foregoing five years of training. All teachers should be 
continually growing professionally. . . .^ 

Standards for teachers. New Hampshire, which for 
several years has been developing its extension of secondary 
education to six years, in Circular No. 1 states: 

At this time it is impossible to obtain secondary teachers trained for 
their work. We will accept this situation for the present, but we 
must insist that teachers have no other capital defect beyond their 
ignorance of the teaching process. We have long demanded that 
they be satisfactory in character and in mentality. We must now 
insist that they have in addition sufficient maturity and experience 
to make them leaders of young people, and sufficient knowledge 
so that they may guide them. . . . Teachers must have a bachelor's 
degree from an approved college. 

Among the exceptions made to the last requirement is that 
those "holding Grade B certificates may teach below the 
tenth grade," and those "who have one, two, or three years 
of post-secondary study in approved institutions may be 
approved to teach courses not above the corresponding years 
of the secondary program" — that is, in grades 7, 8, or 9. 
With the development of departmental and differentiated 

1 Ohio High-School Standards, pp. 13-14. 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES 215 

work in the grammar grades a number of cities, whether 
they have junior high schools or not, have estabhshed an 
intermediate type of teachers' license. New York City has 
for years had its License Number 2. Boston has recently 
established its Intermediate certificate for teachers in junior 
high schools. 

Teachers appointed to serve under this certificate will give in- 
struction departmentally in the subjects they elect as majors. In 
general, the academic standards for this examination will be inter- 
mediary between those heretofore established for the Elementary- 
School, Class A certificate, and those for the High-School certifi- 
cate. For instance, the major examinations in foreign languages 
will be of an academic standard equivalent to that established for 
the minor papers for the High-School certificate. Teachers of any 
modern foreign language in the intermediate classes must be 
equipped with a speaking knowledge. The oral tests in modern 
foreign languages, therefore, will be very critical. 

The tests in mathematics will embrace the work of Grades 7, 8, 
and 9, in accordance with the newer viewpoint of teaching mathe- 
matics as a unit. . . . The examinations in science, in history and 
geography, and in English, likewise, will be in harmony with the 
work now undertaken in the intermediate classes, the basis of the 
tests being the courses of study that have already been prepared 
for intermediate classes. 

Lewis, in his Standards for Measuring Junior High Schoolsy^ 
proposed that 

all teachers shall be graduates of a four-year high-school course or 
its equivalent. In addition they shall be graduates of a standard 
normal school with at least one year of practice teaching experience 
or they shall have had at least two years of college work, with 
preparation in the branches to be t^-ught, with practice teaching 
experience. Furthermore, all teachers shall be required to have 
had two years of distinctive successful teaching experience, prefer- 
ably in the grades, and show some evidence of professional interest, 

* ^ University of Iowa Extension Bulletin, 1916. 



216^ THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

training, and study before being employed to teach in junior high 
schools. Better still, all should be college graduates, with practice 
teaching experience and one year of successful classroom experience 
in the grades. It is desirable that special preparation should be 
made during the college course to teach one or two subjects. The 
promotion of eminently successful teachers within the system shall 
be possible only for those who meet the above requirements. 

Davis ^ demands 

teachers in the junior-high-school grades as thoroughly trained and 
as efficient as those in the senior high school. Ultimately, yea, 
speedily, this means teachers with college degrees and professional 
training. It ought to mean, also, teachers of successful experience 
and with maturity of judgment. The task of introducing pupils 
for the first time to new lines of thought and responses calls for the 
highest possible skill. The young callow girl or boy, perfect it may 
be in the knowledge of the subject to be taught, but ignorant of 
the deeper meanings of life and life's relations, will serve the cause 
of education vastly better if put in charge of advanced courses 
than over beginners. From the typical young Ph.D. man in col- 
lege and the typical young A.B. student in junior high school may 
the supervising authorities forever deliver the freshman student. 

During the period of transition from the old system to the new, 
insistence on the employment of none but college-bred teachers 
would, however, be as unjust as it would be futile and impracti- 
cable. Old and faithful teachers may not be made to suffer nor be 
unceremoniously eliminated from the system. Time and oppor- 
tunity for readjustments must be permitted. For those teachers 
in the seventh and eighth grades who are by temperament unfitted 
for departmental work transfers of position must be made. For 
others the assignment of such courses as they are amply fitted to 
teach effectively must be made. For all continued growth in ser- 
vice must be demanded. Hence leave of absence for such as seek 
it in order to fit themselves the better for the new work should be 
cheerfully granted by Boards of Education. 

^ The Subject- Matter and Administration of the Six-Three-Three Plan of 
Secondary Schools. University of Michigan Bulletin, 1915. 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES 217 

Gosling, 1 of the State Department of Education for Wis- 
consin, writes: 

So far as the junior high school is concerned, the fitness of the 
teacher involves thorough scholarship, a large and generous and 
inspiring personality, adequate professional training, understand- 
ing of, and love for, boys and girls in their early adolescence, quali- 
ties of real leadership, and a broad social outlook which will result 
in positive service in the school and which will connect the school 
and its pupils with the social environment outside. . . . The dis- 
tinguishing characteristics of junior-high-school teachers are that 
at their best they exhibit both broad human sympathies and sound 
scholarship and that they respond generously to the new social 
demands which a progressive educational program is making upon 
them. In other words, the successful junior-high-school teacher 
must combine the distinguishing qualities of the successful elemen- 
tary teacher and of the successful senior-high-school teacher and 
in addition must have an unusual willingness and ability to respond 
to the opportunities for usefulness which only a broad social out- 
look and a keen sensitiveness to social obligations can give. . . . 

The standards which have been fixed in the best schools have 
already been mentioned. They may be summarized as follows : 

(1) Graduation from a reputable college or university. 

(2) Professional training in a normal school or in a school of 
education connected with a university; or in lieu thereof, 
successful experience in teaching. 

(3) Understanding of, and sympathy with, adolescent boys and 
girls. 

(4) A clean, generous, and inspiring personality. 

(5) Qualities of real leadership. 

(6) A broad social vision and a keen sense of social obligations. 

In 1918 the North Central Association of Colleges and 

Secondary Schools unanimously adopted the following 

recommendation of its Commission on Unit Courses and 

Curricula: 

1 Gosling: The Selection and Training of Teachers for Junior High Schools, 
pp. 169-70, 173, part 1, Eighteenth Year-Book of National Society for Study 
of Education^ 



218 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

1. The Commission recommends that the standard of prepara- 
tion for the teacher of the ninth grade of the jmiior high school 
be the same as the standard now administered for secondary 
teachers by the North Central Association. An equally high 
standard of preparation for the teacher of the seventh and 
eighth grades of the junior high school should be insisted upon 
as soon as practicable. 

2. It recommends as a maximum a daily school schedule of six 
full hours of study, recreation, or laboratory work, and five 
full hours as a maximum teaching schedule. 

3. It sanctions a general policy of attempting to equalize more 
nearly the number of men and women teachers on the staff of 
the junior high school. 

It is well to note at this point that these standards repre- 
sent ideals. That they are not fully met by the teachers 
actually employed is easily explicable. Teachers in junior 
high schools probably conform to ideal standards quite as 
closely as do teachers in any other types of institutions. 

So much for the requirements of teachers demanded or 
proposed. Douglass ^ quotes from superintendents a num- 
ber of similar, but usually lower, standards. Two of the 
quotations are here reproduced. Superintendent Scofield, of 
Eugene, Oregon, v^rote: 

The successful junior-high-school teacher must have enough 
breadth of training or experience to be able to see, not only her own 
part of the course, but also where the pupil is coming from and 
where he is going after leaving the junior high school. My own 
experience has been that the teacher with the most varied experi- 
ence and training is the one most valuable for this work. The 
teacher with a normal-school course rounded out by later college 
or university work would have an ideal training. 

Superintendent Horn, of Houston, Texas, wrote: 
1 The Junior High School. 1916. 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES 219 

The matter of the qualification of the junior-high-school teachers 
is indeed a vital one. We have found from experience that those 
teachers who are university graduates, but who have for several 
years been successfully teaching in the elementary schools are de- 
cidedly more successful as junior-high-school teachers than are the 
university graduates whose teaching experience has been exclu- 
sively high-school work of the older type. . . . The chief reason 
seems to me to be that the average good teacher in the elementary 
school comes nearer having the right attitude toward her work 
than does the average teacher in the high school as it has been. 

Whatever standards are set up, provided they be not 
mandatory, a superintendent is likely to select the best 
teachers that he can find, most probably in his own system, 
regardless of academic training or degrees. Of course he is 
usually limited in the amount of salary he can pay. As 
Superintendent Giles, of Richmond, Indiana, wrote: ^ 

No set standard has been adopted as to qualifications of our 
teachers. We are frequently obliged to choose between an inex- 
perienced teacher of good scholarship and one with successful 
experience, but less scholarship training. We decide each case on 
its merits, of course giving preference to the applicant with college 
training, if other conditions are at all equal. 

Not infrequently higher requirements are made for teach- 
ers in the ninth grade, even though it is incorporated with 
the seventh and eighth grades in a three-year junior school. 
North Dakota ^ permits teachers with normal-school train- 
ing to be 

employed in these reorganized schools for any work except the aca- 
demic work of the four-year high-school course or such work in the 
ninth grade of the junior high school. Our certificate laws require 
that academic work such as is comprised in the usual four-year 

1 Douglass, p. 114. ^ State High School Inspector's Report. 1917. 



no THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

high-school course must be taught by teachers who are college 
graduates holding first-grade professional certificates. 

Similar requirements prevail in several other states. 

Sources of teachers. As may be suspected, the require- 
ments for junior-high-school teachers depends largely on the 
organization of the grades. When all six years of secondary 
education are under one principal in one building, especially 
in small schools, the teachers are likely to be identical for 
both the lower and the upper years. When the junior high 
school includes only the seventh and eighth grades in a 
separate organization, the teachers are likely to be drawn 
largely, if not entirely, from the elementary-school staff. 
It is when the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades are organ- 
ized together, especially when the school is large enough for 
the difference of salary between the elementary- and the 
secondary-school schedule, multiplied by the number of 
teachers involved, to be material, that the problem becomes 
complex. Davis reports ^ that 30 per cent of the junior high 
schools in the North Central territory have the same require- 
ments for teachers as do their senior high schools, and that 
35.2 per cent of these schools have teachers who also give 
instruction in the upper school. As the average number of 
teachers in these 293 schools is 9.4, the conditions that he 
reports are symptomatic of high standards for the inter- 
ruediate schools of the Middle West. 

In the great majority of places it has been found advisable 

to place in the junior high school teachers selected from the 

upper elementary-school grades. For this there are several 

very cogent reasons, chief oi which is that these teachers 

1 School Review, vol. 26, pp. 327-28. 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES 221 

were already in charge of the pupils who were for the most 
part to constitute the new school. Moreover, adminis- 
trators generally hold that from these grammar-grade teach- 
ers they can select a number who are among the most skilled 
in the entire system and who are ambitious for what they 
consider a promotion. Their experience in the grades has 
given them an understanding of boys and girls in early 
adolescence and has made them appreciative of individual 
differences in abilities and sympathetic with any plans that 
will provide for differentiation of work. Whether or not 
they are by and large better teachers than others in the high 
school, as many maintain, it is unnecessary to consider, for 
they are usually eager to work in the new type of school, 
while the high-school teacher of however humble rank is 
likely to consider his transfer anything but a promotion. 
However illogical this feeling may be, it is human nature 
supported by American salary schedules. FuUerton ^ early 
took the position that this use of grammar-grade teachers in 
junior high schools would be a mistake as resulting in poor 
teaching and a lowering of scholarship, especially in the 
ninth grade. But superintendents have apparently pre- 
ferred to assure themselves, first of all, of good teachers 
whom they knew and to risk the scholarship. ^ It must be 
noted that many teachers in the grammar grade have been 
prepared for work higher than they are doing and that the 
ambitious ones frequently have advanced, by continued 

^ Junior High Schools, Columbus, Ohio, Superintendent'' s Report, 1912. 

2 This assertion is supported by the statement of an appointment secre- 
tary of a college of education, that proportionately there have been few 
calls for junior-high-school teachers, even though the college has offered 
soeciM courses to prepare them for the work. 



222 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

study and other means, in one or more special subjects. A 
question that should in this connection be considered is 
whether administrators have always been fair to the elemen- 
tary schools when they have promoted the best grammar- 
grade teachers to the junior high school while leaving the 
poor and the mediocre ones in unreorganized buildings. 

Sex of teachers. Snedden ^ voices the opinion of many 
when he asserted that "a certain proportion of men teachers 
should be assigned to departmental positions, not primarily 
because they are necessarily better teachers than women, 
but because it is desirable to introduce, in boys* classes at 
any rate, the influence of masculine personality"; and it 
has been argued that the introduction of junior high schools 
would result in a larger proportion of men teachers for chil- 
dren of early adolescence. Briggs ^ asserted in 1914 that 
there was then in the junior high schools making report to 
the Bureau of Education "a considerably larger proportion 
of men . . . than is usually found in the seventh and eighth 
grades of the regular grammar school." 

In the 265 junior high schools that reported for this study 
the number of teachers by sex, there were 845 men (25.2 per 
cent) and 2513 women (74.8 per cent). Only 21 of these 
schools had no men teachers. It is quite possible, however, 
that a majority of the schools not reporting had no men 
teachers; for it is a well-recognized fact that in questionnaire 
answers details are most frequently omitted when they are 
or seem to be unfavorable. The median number of men 

* "Reorganization of Education for Children from Twelve to Four- 
teen Years of Age," Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 2, 
pp. 425-33. 

2 Report of the Commissioner of Education (1914), vol. i. 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES 223 

teachers per school is 1-4; for women teachers, 5-9; the dis- 
tribution of the number of men and women teachers by 
schools is shown in Table XXXIV, which is to be read: "In 
196 schools there are 1-4 men teachers; in 30, there are 5-9 
men," etc. 

TABLE XXXIV 

Showing for 265 Jxjnior High Schools the Number having 
Various Numbers of Men and Women Teachers 

Total number of teachers Number of schools having 

Men Women 

1-4 196 106 

5-9 80 69 

10-14 12 36 

15-19 4 21 

20-24 1 14 

25-29 1 5 

30-34 7 

35-39 3 

40-44 3 

50-54 1 

The entire distribution of men teachers in the 265 junior 
high schools reporting is shown in Table XXXV. This 
shows no constant relationship between the size of schools 
and the proportion of men teachers; in each group the av- 
erage percentage of men falls in the 21-30 step, and only in 
the schools of the largest size do we find none with more 
than half the teachers men. 

There are no available data concerning the proportion of 
men teaching in unreorganized seventh and eighth grades, 
but there is abundant evidence that it is steadily decreasing. 
Reports of the United States Commissioner of Education 
afford data from which it may be calculated that in our 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

TABLE XXXV 

Showing the Distribution of Men Teachers in Junior 
Schools of Various Sizes 



Total 
number 




Per cent of the schools having various 
per cents of men teachers 


Total 
number 


of teachers 






of schools 
















in schools 





1-10 


11-20 


21-30 


31-40 


41-50 


51-60 


61-70 


reporting 


1-4 


22.4 





15.5 


24.1 


22.4 


12.1 


3.5 




58 


5-9 


8.2 


. 4.7 


28.2 


17.7 


24.7 


11.8 


3.5 


1.2 


85 


10-14 


6.7 


20.0 


20.0 


37.8 


9.0 


4.4 





2.2 


45 


15-19 


7.1 


10.7 


28.6 


28.6 


14.3 


7.1 


3.6 




28 


20-29 




4.2 


33.3 


33.3 


16.7 


4.2 


8.4 




24 


80-49 




4.8 


38.1 


23.8 


28.6 


4.8 






21 


50-79 




25.0 








75.0 








4 


Totals... 


9.4 


7.2 


24.9 


25.3 


20.8 


8.7 


3.0 


0.8 


265 



This table is to be read as follows: Of 58 schools having 1-4 teachers, 
22.4 per cent have no men teachers, 15.5 per cent have 11-20 per cent of 
men, 24.1 per cent have 21-30 per cent of men; etc. 



elementary schools the percentage of men teachers has fallen 
from 42.8 in 1880, to 34.5 in 1890, to 28.9 in 1900, to 19.0 in 
1910, to 16.9 in 1915, and to 13.4 in 1918. If the curve 
(shown on page 15) continues to fall without material 
change, we may expect the male teacher in the elementary 
school to be extinct shortly after 1930. Recent conditions 
have so bent the curve downward that, unless changed by 
factors that are not now operative, it will reach the baseline 
within a decade. The chart also shows that the percentage 
of men teachers even in the high school is decreasing at an 
alarming rate. The proportion of men teachers reported in 
junior high schools is, therefore, important and encouraging. 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES 225 

Davis ^ found that the 2760 teachers in the 293 junior 
high schools of the North Central Association were dis- 
tributed as shown in Table XXXVI. 

TABLE XXXVI 

Showing for 293 Junior High Schools of the North Central 
Association the Numbers and Percentages of Men and 
Women Teachers 

Number Per cent 

Academic men 352 12 . 8 

Vocational men 338 12.2 

Total men 690 25.0 

Academic women 1592 57 . 7 

Vocational women 478 17 . 3 

Total women 2070 75.0 



Educational training. What is the proportion of junior- 
high-school teachers who are graduates of colleges? In the 
266 schools returning data for this question there were 3338 
teachers, an average of 12.5 and a median of 9 to the school. 
Of these, 1621, or 48.6 per cent, were college graduates. 
Forty, or 15.0 per cent, of the schools, had none but college 
graduates in their corps, and 31, or 11.7 per cent, had no 
college graduates at all. 

The size of the school seems to have little influence on the 
proportions of college graduates in the teaching corps. So 
far as a tendency is revealed by the grouping in Table 
XXXVII, the smaller the school the better prepared its 
teachers seem to be, until the largest group, which takes a 
median position. 

1 School Review, vol. 26, p. 326. 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



TABLE XXXVII 

Showing the Proportion of College Graduates in Junior 
High Schools grouped according to Size 



Number of 
teachers in corps 


Number of 
schools 


Total 

number of 

teachers 


Total number 
of college 
graduates 


Per cent of 

college 
graduates 


1-5 


82 
82 
55 
31 
16 


287 
660 
850 
835 
706 


166 
337 
406 
366 
346 


57.9 


6-11 

12-21 


51.1 

47.8 


22-36 

37-70 


43.8 
49.0 






Total 


266 


3338 


1621 


46.8 



These data reveal a distinctly encouraging situation. The 
266 schools that reported on this item have very materially 
increased the proportion of college graduates for the instruc- 
tion of their pupils in early adolescence. When it is recalled 
that to a large extent junior high schools were staffed with 
teachers who had already proved their worth by efficient 
service, we cannot but conclude that the junior high school 
has made a distinct contribution toward raising the stand- 
ards of teachers in the intermediate period. Moreover, 
the situation is likely to grow better in established schools, 
for a number of administrators have volunteered statements 
in entire harmony with the following quotation from Super- 
intendent Barker, of Oakland, California:^ 

While nearly all the teachers employed at the time of the change 
to the departmental plan were retained, a large proportion of the 
new teachers appointed are college graduates with successful ex- 

* The Intermediate School Situation in Oakland. 1917. 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES 227 

perience in elementary as well as in high schools, ... At the pres- 
ent time approximately one half of the teachers in the seventh and 
eighth grades where the departmental method is employed are 
college graduates with sufficient graduate training to meet the state 
requirements for high-school certification. 

Evenden ^ found from the returns of 167 cities that the 
median requirement of academic and professional training 
above the eighth grade for junior-high-school teachers was 
6.44 years. If his 167 cities are similar to the 266 returning 
data on the teachers employed in 1917, the difference means 
either that schools actually secure teachers somewhat better 
prepared than the requirements demand or that there had 
been a considerable falling-off in quality during two years. 
The complete distribution of the requirements of Evenden's 
167 cities is shown in Table XXXVIII. There was no con- 
siderable variation from the median by any section of the 
United States. 

TABLE XXXVIII 

Showing the Number of Years in Academic and Professional 
Preparation above the Eighth Grade which is prerequis- 
ite to Election in the Intermediate Schools of 167 Cities 
reporting in 1819. 



Years of preparation 

beyond the eighth grade 




Number 

of schools 




Years of preparation 
beyond the eighth grade 
7 


Number 

of schools 

3 


I 


1 


8 


12 


2 


8 


9 


2 


3 


2 


4-6 


1 


4 


11 


6-8 


10 


5 


7 


Varied 


13 


6 


97 


' 





^ Teachers' Salaries and Salary Schedules in the United States, 1918-19it 
p. 62. 



228 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

Special training. The number of junior-high-scliool teach- 
ers that have had special training for their work is small. 
Twenty schools report that they had 1 to 4 teachers specially 
trained in colleges for junior-high-school work, and five 
schools report 5 to 9 such teachers. All of the teachers in 
two of the schools were specially trained in college courses 
for their work. Although only 206 schools returned data 
on this point, there is no reason to believe that the percent- 
age of schools with such specially prepared teachers (12 per 
cent) would materially rise if all the schools had reported, 

Vermont held a special series of institutes under the charge 
of the State Supervisor of Junior High Schools when it was 
decided to extend secondary education there in accordance 
with the recommendations of the Educational Survey; and 
several cities have conducted classes for the preparation of 
teachers who were already in service in other positions in 
the system. Boston, for instance, provided courses in the 
teaching of English, mathematics, history, geography, and 
science, which were attended by at least one teacher in each 
district. From those attending the courses have been 
chosen heads of departmental work.^ No wiser plan has 
been made public than that devised by Superintendent H. S. 
Weet at Rochester, New York: ^ 

Once it was decided to select experienced grade teachers, the 
problem of intelligent selection presented itself. Accordingly, one 
year before the junior high school was to open, a series of Saturday 
morning institutes was begun. Classes were organized in Latin, 
German, English, elementary science, and mathematics. These 
were for applicants for teaching positions in the academic course. 

^ Superintendent's Report. 1917. 

' National Education Association Bulletin 4, 1916, No. 6» p. 151. 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES ' 229 

Specially trained teachers were available for the commercial and 
household- and industrial-arts courses, though Saturday morning 
institutes were organized and carried on through the year in these 
courses also. The major emphasis in these latter was on courses 
of study. 

To these courses every experienced grade teacher in the system 
who met the minimal requirements and who cared to apply was 
admitted. Every applicant for a position as teacher of mathe- 
matics in the junior high school was required to have had, for 
example, the full mathematics courses of the upper high school. 
To continue with the subject of mathematics, as illustrative of the 
principle which prevailed in these institutes, three definite things 
were accomplished. In the first place, an opportunity was given 
for drawing up in outline a course of study in general mathematics 
for the eighth grade or second year of the junior, high school for 
pupils of the academic course. . . . The institute was in charge of 
the head of the department of mathematics in the high school to 
which the pupils of this particular junior high school would go. . . . 
In the institute class, on the other hand, were the experienced grade 
teachers with their knowledge of the capacities and limitations of 
upper-grade study. ... In the second place, these institutes gave 
to the grade teachers an opportunity for subject-matter review 
in algebra and geometry. And, lastly, the work of the teachers in 
these institutes constituted one important factor in the ultimate 
selection of teachers. What has been said of this course in general 
mathematics was equally true in principle of each of the other 
courses. 

Of 163 places reporting, 19 have in their junior high schools 
teachers specially prepared in classes locally conducted. 
The number of such teachers is shown in Table XXXIX^ 
Of these 19 cities or towns have trained all of their teachers 
by means of local classes. 

The growing importance of the junior high school and the 
educational possibilities in it have led a number of univer- 
sities, colleges, and normal schools to offer courses for the 
special preparation of administrators and teachers. A sum- 



230 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

TABLE XXXIX 

Showing the Number of Teachers in Junior High Schools 
specially prepared in classes conducted by the city 
System 



Numher of teachers 




Numher of schools 







144 


1-4 




10 


5-9 




5 


10-14 




1 


15-19 




1 


20-24 




2 




Total 


163 



mary of the courses offered may be found in Part i of the 
Eighteenth Year- Book of the National Society for the Study of 
Education, pp. 179-87. 

Three of the Massachusetts State Normal Schools — 
Bridgewater, Fitchburg, and Salem — began in 1915 to offer 
three-year curricula for the training of teachers for junior 
high schools. Stacy outlined a proposed curriculum for 
normal schools in Educational Administration and Super- 
vision (vol. 2, pp. 448-55), and developed it somewhat fur- 
ther in the same magazine (vol. 3, pp. 343-50). His curric- 
ulum includes: 

(1) A general foundation for the first year, (2) specialized work 
on majors and general work on minors for the second and third 
years. The groups we have adopted, each subject ia a group being 
a major, are these: 

1. Geography, history, and civics. 

2. Geography, science (general). 

3. Mathematics, science. 

4. English, history, and civics. 

5. English, geography. 

6. English, a modern language. 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES ^ 231 

7. Special combinations of any of the above subjects with gar- 
dening or playground activities or athletics. 

The student elects one group. The required professional studies, 
psychology, school management, practice teaching, etc., are also 
majors. 

Experience. It is important to know the previous experi- 
ence of junior-high-school teachers as well as their training. 
Only from 177 to 221 schools furnished replies to the several 
questions under this head; and unfortunately there are not 
even the smaller number who answer all of the five questions. 

One hundred and ninety-eight schools report concerning 
the number of teachers who have come to them without 
experience directly from normal schools. One hundred and 
forty-one, or 71.2 per cent, had no such teachers; 54 had 1 to 
4; and three had 5 to 9. Two hundred and thirteen schools 
report the number of teachers who have come to them with- 
out experience directly from college. One hundred, or 47.0 
per cent, had no such teachers; 110, or 51.6 per cent, had 1 to 
4; two had 5 to 9; and one had 25 to 29. So far as these 
answers are representative, it is obvious that junior high 
schools draw their inexperienced teachers much more largely 
from colleges than from normal schools; but an examination 
of the complete data shows that the proportion of inexperi- 
enced teachers in junior high schools is small. Evidently, 
again, administrators place their confidence for pioneering 
in teachers whom they believe successful in practical work. 

Evenden ^ found that 30 per cent of intermediate schools 
reporting to the National Education Association require 
one year's experience, 42 per cent require two years', and 

^ Teaehers Salaries and Salary Schedules in the United States, 1918-19, 
p. 60. 



232 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

12 per cent require three. The average experience of 473 
teachers in 120 schools was 7.5 years. 

Inasmuch as Los Angeles is one of the cities in which the 
intermediate-school teachers were early put on the high- 
school salary schedule, it is interesting to consider the train- 
ing and experience of the teachers there. The data are all 
derived from the tables given in the Report of the Advisory 
Committee to the Board of Education of the City of Los 
Angeles, 1916. 

Of 300 intermediate-school teachers, 134 had the regular 
high-school license, and 146 had a special high-school license, 
which was issued to make them eligible for intermediate- 
school work. 

Table XL shows the per cent of 1212 elementary -school 
teachers, of 278 intermediate-school teachers, and of 500 
high-school teachers in Los Angeles who had attended col- 
lege or university for four years and who held college or 
university degrees. The larger percentage holding degrees 

TABLE XL 

Showing per cents of Los Angeles Teachers Attending 
College Four Years and Holding Degrees 

Elem. Interm. H.S. 

Attending college four years 6.0 29 . 5 39 . 6 

Holding degrees 8.9 43.5 68.4 

than attending college four years is presumably due to the 
fact that a number of degrees were secured by less than four 
years of study, probably supplemented by Saturday and 
summer sessions and correspondence courses. The inferi- 
ority of the preparation of the intermediate-school teachers 
to that of the high-school teachers is clearly indicated in this 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES 233 

table; a study of the detailed data, however, shows that it is 
even greater than here appears, inasmuch as the high-school 
teachers have done considerably more advanced study and 
hold a number of graduate degrees. 

The Los Angeles teachers are, with the exception of an 
all but negligible fraction, experienced; and the amount of 
experience does not differ materially in the three types of 
schools, the median in each group being 10 to 15 years. The 
distribution is shown in Table XLI. 

TABLE XLI 

SeOWING BY PER CENTS THE AmOUNT OF EXPERIENCE OF 

Los Angeles Teachers 

Years of Elementary Intermediate High 

experience schools schools schools 

i-1 2.5 1.1 1.0 

2-3 9.7 7.5 6.6 

3-5 12.2 10.8 8.4 

5-10 25.1 26.3 28.2 

10-15 24.0 24.1 23.4 

15-25 20.4 27.7 27.2 

Over25 7.0 2.5 5.2 

Medians. . .10 yrs., 1.3 mo. 10 yrs., 10.7 mo. 11 yrs., 2.9 mo. 

Salaries. A comparison of the intermediate- and high- 
school teachers in Los Angeles as to salaries is given in 
Table XLII. Although the median salary of each group is 
the same, $1680, the average of the high-school salaries is 
considerably higher. This is due partly to the fact that, as 
these schools have been established longer, more of their 
teachers had reached the advanced steps in the schedule, and 
partly to the inclusion of the well-paid heads and sub-heads 
of departments. 



@34 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



TABLE XLII 

Showing the Numbers and per cents of Intermediate-School 
Teachers and High-School Teachers receiving Different 
Salaries in Los Angeles 





Numbers 


receiving 


Per cents 


receiving 


Grades of salary 


Intermediate 
schools 


High 
schools 


Intermediate 
schools 


High 
schools 


$1200 . 


9 

12 

14 

16 

20 

17 

19 

15 

15 

141 






6 
12 
19 
19 
25 
33 
33 
23 
21 
255 
23 
30 


3.2 

4.3 
5.0 
5.8 
7.2 
6.1 
6.8 
5.4 
5.4 
50.7 
0.0 
0.0 


1 2 


1260 


2 4 


1320 


3 8 


1380 


3 8 


1440 


5 


1500 


6 6 


1560 


6 6 


1600 


4 6 


1640 


4 2 


1680 


51 


1740-2100 

2160 


4.6 
6.0 






Totals 

Median salary 


278 


499 


99.9 
$1680 


99.8 
$1680 



The Survey Committee recommended that the academic 
standard for intermediate-school teachers be raised. It 
seemed to be the majority opinion of the Los Angeles school 
people in 1917 that the former superintendent had made a 
mistake in placing intermediate-school teachers on the high- 
school salary schedule without at the same time demanding 
the full requirements for high-school certification. 

A number of others besides Superintendent Francis, who 
established intermediate schools at Los Angeles, have advo- 
cated with cogent arguments that teachers of the new type 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES 235 

of institution should be put on the same salary schedules as 
high-school teachers. Typical of these is Gosling, who, 
after several years' experience as principal of a junior high 
school at Cincinnati and later as supervisor in Wisconsin, 
says : 

In the meantime the tendency manifest in some places to estab- 
lish a salary schedule that is intermediate between the schedule 
of the elementary school and that of the senior high school is to be 
resisted strongly, because it not only fails to recognize the impor- 
tance of the junior high school and the significant contributions of 
its teachers to the development of a difficult piece of work, but also 
it strikes at the stability of the new institution by the subtle sug- 
gestion to teachers that they may regard their position merely as 
a stepping-stone to the safe berth and the higher salary which the 
senior high school offers. In other words, the intermediate salary 
created a condition of unstable equilibrium, whereas fixedness, 
firmly based in high purposes persistently followed, is needed to 
develop the junior high school up to the full measure of its possi- 
bilities.^ 

Owing to the diflficulties of securing accurate and com- 
plete information by means of a questionnaire, there has 
been no attempt to make a study of the relative salaries paid 
throughout the country to teachers in elementary, inter- 
mediate, and high schools. The following conclusions are, 
however, believed to be generally justified. First, in a 
majority of genuine junior high schools the teachers are paid 
somewhat more than teachers in elementary schools and 
somewhat less than those in the high school. Second, in a 
smaller number of junior high schools, especially in those 
that have made few or no significant changes, the salaries 
tend to be the same as those paid to grammar-grade teach- 

^ The Selection and Training of Teachers Jor Junior High Schools, loc. ciL, 
p. 172. 



236 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

ers. Third, in the smallest group of independently organ- 
ized junior high schools the salaries are the same as for 
teachers in the senior high school. 

In his study for the National Education Association, 
Evenden found the median salary for junior-high-school 
teachers (392 cities reporting) to be, in 1918-19, $951, while 
the medians for elementary-school and high-school teachers 
were $856 and $1224 respectively. Fifty per cent of the jun- 
ior-high-school teachers received between $768 and $1134. 
The wide range of medians for cities of different size is shown 
in Table XLIII. The geographical range is from $832 in the 
Southern States, through $962 in the Great Plains, to $1000 
in the Far West. 

TABLE XLIII 

Median Salaby of Junior-High-School Teachers in Cities op 
Various Sizes (1918-19) 

Size of cities Number of teachers Median salary 

More than 100,000 421 $1226 

50,000-100,000 169 1007 

25,000-50,000 487 1047 

10,000-25,000 420 943 

5,000-10,000 380 775 

Under 5,000 309 738 

Total 2186 $951 

Davis ^ reports that 31.4 per cent of the junior high schools 
in the North Central territory have the same salary schedule 
as do the high schools. This large percentage is probably 
due to a number of six-year secondary schools in which the 
same teachers give instruction in all grades. Almost every 

} School Review, vol. 26, p. 328. 



TEACHERS AND SALARIES 237 

conceivable practice has been found. The simple fact is 
that few communities have been willing materially to in- 
crease the salaries of teachers for the intermediate grades, 
on reorganization, even though there be apparent need and 
educational advance assured by so doing. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE SCHEDULE AND 

OF CLASS UNITS 

A. Length op Period, of Day, and of Week 

The junior high school has resulted in a material increase in 
the length of class period for pupils in the seventh and eighth 
grades. The median length of period for 277 junior high 
schools is 40 to 44 minutes, with 69.2 per cent of the schools 
having periods not shorter than 35 minutes or longer than 
49. Douglass ^ found almost the same conditions. The 
median length of period for 149 junior high schools reporting 
to him was 40 minutes, with 59.7 per cent of the schools 
having periods not shorter than 35 minutes or longer than 49. 

The median length of period for upper grades in elemen- 
tary schools of 198 places is 30 to 34 minutes; for junior 
high schools in 277 places, 40 to 44 minutes; and for high 
schools in 228 places, 45 to 49 minutes. The complete dis- 
tribution is given in Table XLIV. 

From a comparison of returns from 165 school systems 
that have been reorganized, it is found that in 11.5 per cent 
of the places the junior high school has class periods of the 
same length as the elementary schools; in 53.3 per cent of the 
places, it has periods of the same length as the high schools; 
in 6.7 per cent of the places it is reported to have periods 
even longer than those in the corresponding high schools, 

1 Part III, Fifteenth Y ear-Book of the National Society for the Study of 
Ediwation, p. 98. 



ADMINISTRATION OF THE SCHEDULE 239 

TABLE XLIV 

Length op Periods in Elementary Schools, Junior High 
Schools, and Senior High Schools 

Length in minutes No. elementary No. junior No. senior 

schools high schools high schools 

15-19 3 

20-24 33 

25-29 55 7 

30-34 66 31 2 

35-39 5 40 14 

40-44 13 113 108 

45-49 7 35 56 

50-54 5 13 IS 

55-59 4 16 14 

60-64 3 18 18 

65-69 1 

70-74 1 

75-79 

80-84 

85-89 1 

90-94 

94-99 10 

Variable 4 

Total 198 274 228 

Medians 30-34 40-44 45-49 

probably because of supervised study. It is evident that 
the junior high school is increasing the length of class period. 
The junior high school also has tended to lengthen the 
school day. The median net length of the school day in 
elementary schools of 239 places is 300 minutes; that for 
junior high schools in 269 places is 320 minutes; and that 
for senior high schools in 236 places is likewise 320 minutes. 
Only 14.5 per cent of the junior high schools have a day less 
than the median length for elementary schools, 300 minutes. 



240 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

TABLE XLV 

Net Length of School Day in Elementary Schools, Junior 
High Schools, and Senior High Schools 

Net length in No. elemen- No. junior No. senior 

minutes tary schools high schools high schools 

150 Ill 

200 113 

230 10 

240 4 2 

250 5 10 

260 6 3 4 

270 18 6 14 

280 39 18 14 

290 10 9 5 

300 81 52 30 

310 20 31 27 

320 7 20 23 

330 28 41 38 

340 7 30 18 

350 15 10 

360 8 30 29 

370 14 5 

380 110 

390 1 3 6 

400 12 

420 12 

450 Oil 

Variable 2 

Total 239 269 236 

Medians 300 320 320 

The Springfield study found that in 73 junior high schools 
the length of the day, presumably including lunch periods 
and intermissions, ranges from 300 to 450 minutes, with a 
median at 345. Of 55 schools, most of them in session less 
than 360 minutes, 31 think the day should be longer. The 



ADMINISTRATION OF THE SCHEDULE 241 

report states that "the six-hour (360-minute) day appar- 
ently is most satisfactory." 

The complete distribution for the schools of this study is 
given in Table XLV. 

From 205 systems were received returns as to the normal 
length in minutes (exclusive of lunch period and recesses) 
in elementary schools, junior high schools, and senior high 
schools. These returns show that in 27.3 per cent of the 
205 places the junior high school has a net school day the 
same as its elementary schools; in 63.9 per cent of the places 
it has a day of the same length as the high schools; and in 
20 per cent of the places it has a day even longer than that 
of the high schools. The junior high school, then, is tending 
to increase the length of the school day for pupils of early 
adolescence. 

The number of periods constituting the week's work was 
reported by 265 junior high schools. The range is aston- 
ishingly large — from approximately 500 minutes to the al- 
most incredible 2880 minutes; the median number of periods, 
of whatever length they may be, remains almost constant at 
25 to 29. 40.5 per cent of the schools have fewer than 25 
periods a week, and 27.0 per cent have more than 29. The 
Springfield study, found in 67 junior high schools that the 
number of periods ranges from 20 to 45, with a median at 35. 

It is a common practice to assign to what seem to be the 
less important subjects in the curriculum fewer than five 
class periods a week. Whether or not the smaller number 
of meetings represents the relative importance of the sub- 
jects seeking a place in the school, it does enable a princi- 
j)al to give the subjects some recognition and at the same 



242 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

time make a program that extends over something less than 
twenty-four hours a day. An objection frequently urged 
against this practice is that much time is lost at the infre- 
quent meetings in the warming-up process. Of 274 junior 
high schools reporting on this topic, 209 (76 per cent) have 
classes that meet less often than four times a week. Of the 
209, only 197 report as to whether such an abbreviated pro- 
gram for a subject is satisfactory; 145 (73.6 per cent) say 
that it is satisfactory; 27 (13.7 per cent) say that it is partly 
satisfactory; and 25 (12.7 per cent) say that it is unsatisfac- 
tory. Careful measurement should be made of the amount 
learned and the amount retained by similar pupils in the 
same amount of time differently distributed. The mat- 
ter is too important to be left to uncertain ** impressions." 

B. Size of Classes 

What size of class is ideal for education has never been 
determined, though on the basis of experience principals of 
elementary schools seek to limit their classes to approxi- 
mately 35 pupils. In high schools the North Central Asso- 
ciation of Colleges and Preparatory Schools recommends as 
a maximum 25 pupils to a class and states further that **no 
recitation class should enroll more than 30 pupils." These 
standards are very generally accepted. From an adminis- 
trative point of view, no class should be permitted to fall 
much below the standard; otherwise the per capita expense 
of the school rapidly mounts up. This administrative ideal 
becomes more and more impossible of attainment as the size 
of the school diminishes or as the number of electives is in- 
creased; therefore, as has been shown elsewheres one potent 



ADMINISTRATION OF THE SCHEDULE 



243 



argument for the junior high school in cities is that in it may 
be congregated enough pupils to be more or less evenly 
divided by the normal class size for elective subjects. 

For our study a large number of junior-high-school princi- 
pals recorded the number of their classes containing 1 to 9, 
10 to 14, 15 to 19, etc., pupils, while others gave only the 
average number of pupils per class. All of the 247 returns 
have been grouped according to the size of the school, and 
the results, in Tables XLVI and XL VII, present accord- 
ing to the enrollment the percentage of classes in 165 junior 
high schools with fewer than 16 or more than 44 pupils. 

It has been thought unwise to make a statistical study of 
the figures in these tables, the organization even of the 
schools in the same population group varying so widely. It 



TABLE XLVI 

Showing the Numbers of Junior High Schools having Vari- 
ous PER cents of Classes with more than 44 Pupils in a 
Class (165 Schools) 



Per 
cent 


Size of school — Number of pupils enrolled 




1- 


100- 


200- 


300- 


400- 


500- 


600- 


700- 


800- 


900- 


1000- 


1100- 


1200- 


2000- 


Total 




yy 


lyy 


2yy 


399 


49y 


5yy 


699 


799 


899 


999 


1099 


1199 


1299 


2500 







27 


35 


19 


17 


11 


6 


4 


4 




2 


1 




1 


1 


128 


1-4 


.. 


5 


3 


2 


2 


1 




1 


1 


.. 




1 


1 




17 


5-9 


1 


2 


2 




1 


, , 


1 






1 






1 




g 


10-14 


1 




1 


i 


^ ^ 


1 


1 
















5 


15-19 


. , 




1 




, , 




















1 


20-24 


, , 


2 


1 
























3 


25-29 






.. 


























30-34 






1 
























1 


100 


i 












•• 
















1 


Totals 


30 


44 


28 


20 


14 


8 


e 


5 


1 


3 


1 


1 


3 


1 


i65 



Table to be read as follows: Of schools having enrollments of fewer than 100 pupils (1-99) 
27 had no classes with more than 44 pupils, 1 had from five to nine per cent of its classes 
with 44 pupils or more each, etc. 



244 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 
TABLE XLVII 



Showing the Numbees of Junior High Schools having Vari- 
ous PER CENTS OF CLASSES WITH FeWER THAN 16 PuPILS IN A 

Class (165 Schools) 



Per 

cent 

of 

classes 


Size of school — Number of pupils enrolled 




1- 

99 


100- 
199 


200- 
299 


300- 
399 


400- 
499 


500- 
599 


600- 
699 


700- 
799 


800- 
899 


900- 
999 


1000- 
1099 


1100- 
1199 


1200- 
1299 


2000- 
2500 


Total 



1-4 

5-9 
10-14 
15-19 
20-24 
25-29 
30-34 
35-39 
40-44 
45-49 
50-54 
55-59 
60-64 
65-69 
70-74 
75-79 
80-84 
85-89 
90-94 
85-99 
100 


9 

*i 
1 

3 

2 
2 

i 

3 

1 

i 
I 

i 
'4 


13 
1 
3 
9 

2 
6 
1 

2 
1 
2 

2 
"l 

'{ 


9 
4 
4 
3 
1 
2 
3 
1 
1 


12 
1 
2 
1 
2 
2 


3 
1 
4 
3 

2 

i 


1 

3 
3 

i" 


1 
1 
1 
3 


1 
3 


1 

1 


1 
1 


1 


1 


2 
1 


1 


52 

10 

24 

24 

7 

14 

7 

5 

3 

2 

1 

5 

1 

"i 

2 

i 

> 


Totals 


30 


44 


28 


20 


14 


8 


6 


4 


2 


2 


1 


1 


3 


1 


164 



Table to be read as follows: Of schools having enrollments of fewer than 100 pupils (1-99) 
nine had no classes with fewer than 16 pupils per class, one school had from five to nine per 
cent of its classes with fewer than 16 pupils each, etc. 

is very near meaningless to say that in one group of schools 
the average size of class is 30 pupils, the entire range is from 
10 to 47 pupils, and fifty per cent of all the classes have from 
21 to 38, unless at the same time are given the curricula of 
the schools, the influences working for and against each, 
the subjects that have classes of various size, etc. From 
the data included here much information can be gained to 
satisfy students of several phases of this topic. Therefore 
the tables are presented without further comment. 



CHAPTER X 
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL 

It has been generally recognized as unfortunate that there 
is frequently at the beginning of the high-school period a 
sharp change from the atmosphere and type of social control 
found in the elementary grades. To remedy this is one of 
the purposes of the junior high school: here, it is argued, 
pupils, similar in age and nearer in ideals and ambitions to 
the twelfth grade than to the first, will, while more or less 
segregated, receive a treatment more suited to their develop- 
ment; that among them a becoming and stimulating spirit 
will be developed, and that discipline will be easier. While 
changing from childhood to youth, " boys and girls are prone 
to be critical of their elders, yet childlike and imitative. 
They are at the age when hero-worship is a great factor in 
their development." i Because of such characteristics it is 
important that they be "kept boys and girls a little longer" 
somewhat apart from the dominating influences of olde^ 
youth, and thus have the opportunity to develop normally. 
They will need extra-curricula activities suited to their 
age, and systematic, personal, educational, and vocational 
guidance. 

There can be no question that by and large the junior high 

schools are paying much attention to the needs of individual 

pupils and to the development of group spirit. The success 

of the efforts seems to result from the selection of teachers 

^ Francis: Elementary School Journal, vol. 15, p. S63. 



246 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

who for the most part are interested in boys and girls of 
early adolescence and who are able to sympathize with their 
demand for a recognition of growing personality and yet to 
direct it rather than to be dominated by it. It may be the 
effect somewhat of novelty, but a pleasant and stimulat- 
ing spirit pervades the junior high school. Observation in 
many places confirms such testimony of teachers and of 
principals as this from Superintendent Hughes, of Chanute, 
Kansas: '*A group spirit has arisen in our junior high school 
which was never experienced in the old schools of eight 
grades." ^ Superintendent Farmer, of Renville, Minnesota, 
writes that he has just as good discipline and order as before 
combining grades seven, eight, and nine in two rooms, 
besides achieving '*a real development of democratic initia- 
tive which leads to the cultivation of self-confidence and 
resourcefulness . ' ' 

Profession is very general that the type of discipline and 
control in junior high schools is midway between that of the 
elementary grades and that of the senior high school. A 
typical statement is that by Superintendent Bostwick, of 
Clinton, Iowa: 

The chief of the advantages is that the pupils in this building 
are all about the same age, the one class just closing the graded 
department and the other beginning the high school, making the 
organization and interest quite close. We are able to carry out a 
policy in the management of the school which is midway between 
the rigid, strict discipliQary management of the graded depart- 
ment on the one hand, and the greater personal liberty policy on 
the other. The pupils are looked after more closely in the begin- 
ning stages of their new work and are helped and supervised more 
than usual in their new studies. 

^ Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 1, p. 617. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL 247 

A visitor to a number of junior high schools is impressed 
that this ideal is general and that it is to a large extent 
successfully carried out. There are, of course, junior high 
schools in which the elementary-school discipline and con- 
trol are continued even through the ninth grade, thus caus- 
ing the same embarrassment of adjustment for their pupils 
when they are transferred to a higher school; and there are 
others in which the more severe discipline and control of 
the senior high school is sharply introduced at the beginning 
of the seventh grade. But both the ideal of achieving a 
middle course by way of transition, and also the natural 
tendency of teachers to adjust themselves to the needs and 
maturity of their pupils, tend toward a gradation. It can 
hardly be denied that in this field the junior high school is 
achieving one of its most marked successes. 

Numerous schools testify to the fact that the change in 
discipline cannot, because of the habits of teachers and 
pupils, be immediately made. From Cleveland comes this: 
"The teachers say that pupils seem to find it rather more 
difficult to adjust themselves to the different kinds of recita- 
tion than when they recited to the same teacher in all sub- 
jects. So far as conduct goes, if all the teachers are strong 
there is no more disciplining to do than formerly. The little 
rest in passing from room to room and the conta^it with 
different personalities seem conducive to greater harmony 
in class." And Norfolk, Nebraska, reports that "discipline 
was harder at first until the pupils became used to it." Such 
reports are wholesome evidence that in junior high schools a 
change is made from the type of administration in the ele- 
mentary grades; and the probability is that because of the 



243 THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 

emphasis on individual needs for guidance, the adjustment 
is better taken care of both here and when the pupils go on 
to the senior high school than under the old plan. 

Of the 293 junior high schools in the North Central Terri- 
tory, 65.9 per cent reported to Davis ^ that their principles 
of discipline were freer than in the elementary schools, and 
50.5 per cent reported that their principles of discipline were 
less free than in the senior high school. These figures bear 
out the statement that the majority of junior high schools 
are attempting an intermediate type of control. 

Of 259 junior high schools that answered for this study the 
question "Is discipline easier or harder than under the old 
organization?" 186, or 71.8 per cent, say that it is easier; 
32, or 12.3 per cent, say that it is harder; 34, or 13.1 per cent, 
say there is not much difference; four have no difficulty; and 
three state that the discipline is harder in the seventh grade 
and easier in the eighth and ninth. 

Self-government. A great deal has been written of 
adolescence and its characteristics,^ but a complete, syste- 
matic translation of erudite studies into everyday practice 
remains to be made. Such adaptations of school govern- 
ment as exist seem based primarily on common sense and 
sympathy. Although adolescence has been shown to come 
on gradually, beginning at different ages for different indi- 
viduals, both science and common-sense judgments agree 
that there is need of special care for the boy and girl in this 
period, "the most unlovely and yet the most in need of 

1 School Review, vol. 26, p. 328. 

2 See especially Hall: Adolescence, 2 vols.; Whipple, chap, vii in Monroe's 
Principles of Secondary Education; and Inglis, chaps, i-n in his Principles of 
Secondary Edtication. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL Q49 

love." Segregation permits and encourages provisions for 
the peculiar characteristics of the child who, more rapidly 
than his elders usually appreciate, is developing a sense of his 
own importance and a desire for initiative and self-control. 
In the junior high school without the undue influence of 
older youth he can gradually be granted privileges as he 
develops responsibility and under guidance prepared better 
for self-control. A supporting analogy in provision for 
gradual adjustment of groups to new privileges is found in 
the Harvard dormitories for freshmen, and in the close over- 
sight provided for incoming students at Chicago, Columbia, 
and a number of our other great universities. 

Complete self-government, as every one knows, is really 
non-existent in any secondary school. Pupils of this age 
are not competent, nor should one expect them to be, en- 
tirely to control either themselves or others. But this does 
not mean that partial and a gradually increasing amount of 
self-government is not desirable; indeed, it is difficult to see 
how any one can effectively be taught an intelligent leader- 
ship of others or control of himself without directed practice. 
Some form of self-government has been observed in a num- 
ber of junior high schools; so far as could be told by a brief 
inspection the report of the principal that it works more or 
less well is confirmed. The degree of success is determined 
chiefly by the interest, the close attention, the wisdom, and 
the personality of the adult furnishing the oversight. 

The criterion of the ultimate worth of any plans of pupil 
government is the conduct of the individuals on the streets, 
in the homes, and in higher schools or business. If there it is 
unaffected by the practice in classrooms or if it is automatic 



250 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOI, 

but unintelligent obedience to all kinds of "authority," the 
schools have largely failed in their work, whatever of facts 
and figures they may have taught. 

In one junior high school in New York City a modified 
form of self-government was undertaken with the purpose of 
affecting both immediately and ultimately the conduct of 
the pupils in their lives outside the school. The inculcation 
of ideals, the opportunities for self-control and leadership, 
and the habits of inteUigent cooperation were sought 
through the organization of the pupils into groups, each one 
directed by an elected leader who had previously qualified 
himself by meeting certain standards that the boys had set 
up. The program for each group was worked out in a 
Leaders' Club, with which one or more of the teachers con- 
stantly advised. 1 The results of this directed organization 
showed itself in the school, in the outside play, and in the 
higher schools and work which after graduation the pupils 
entered. There was so much loyalty to the ideals developed 
that for several years afterward the boys returned to regular 
and frequent alumni meetings for the purpose of adapting 
the "creed" to their new conditions and of helping each 
other better live up to it. 

The achievements of the boys who entered the city high 
schools were on the whole highly satisfactory, in that they 
adjusted themselves quickly and easily to the form of admin- 
istration there, entered vigorously into the extra-curricula 
activities, and attempted to carry on their habits of initia- 
tion and leadership. Unfortunately, a few individual high- 

1 See Fretwell: "An Experiment in Democracy," Teachers College Record, 
vol. 20, pp. 324-52. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL 251 

school teachers, as perhaps would happen anywhere, ridi- 
culed these attempts and discouraged anything except obedi- 
ence to explicit directions emanating from themselves. This 
leads to the suggestion that any plan of socialization at- 
tempted in the intermediate school should be extended to 
include the teachers in higher schools who may later have 
charge of the pupils. To insure success, both the articulat- 
ing intermediate school and the high school should have 
similar ideals of social control. 

Of the self-government in Los Angeles, Superintendent 
Francis wrote: ^ 

The grouping together of the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades 
has placed in one school boys and girls of about the same age, 
tastes, and interests. This has made possible some form of student 
government in each school whereby students assume control of 
various activities under their own officers and student administra- 
tion. The policy here stated is in line with the present-day feeling 
that if our democracy is to prosper, the beginnings must be laid in 
the public school, and students must early be taught the duties and 
responsibilities that fall upon the individual in a democracy. The 
adolescent child is at a most impressionable age, and the ideals 
developed at this time are enduring in character. 

All of the intermediate schools have placed certain phases of 
school administration and school activity under student control, 
differing in each locality according to the varying conditions that 
are encountered. It is the consensus of opinion that there has 
arisen in pupils a better attitude toward school, and a greater de- 
sire to cooperate in those things that make for a more wholesome 
school atmosphere. 

Of the plan used in the Latimer Junior High School in 
Pittsburgh, Principal Graham makes the following state- 
ment: 

*. Elementary School Journal, vol. 15, p. 371. 



252 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

One of the features of our school which we believe to be well 
worth while, is the organization this year of student government. 
Early in the term each report class elected a representative to the 
student organization, which in turn elected a president, vice-presi- 
dent, and secretary, and six additional members of a council of 
nine. This body is known as the "School Council," and with the 
guidance of the principal attempts to guide and in a measure con- 
trol all student activities and foster a healthy school sentiment. 
The organization has met with a fair measure of success. It has 
done much to make the handling of the students easier during the 
lunch period and passing to and fro from classes, as well as keeping 
order during the chapel exercises; and in a few cases the Council 
has tried offenders against school society, and has then acted in an 
advisory capacity to the principal in inflicting punishment. On 
the whole the student organization seems to be quite successful in 
our junior high school. 

At Richmond, Indiana, there is a representative com- 
mitee of pupils forming a pupil council that acts with the 
principal in behalf of the entire student body; and all vis- 
itors to the Washington Junior High School at Rochester, 
New York, have been impressed by the provisions that the 
pupils have made both for their own conduct and for the 
comfort and convenience of others. 

Of the schools reporting on the topic for this study, only 
one pretends to have a system of full self-government by the 
pupils, and 101 others profess to have partial self-govern- 
ment. There is no way of telling what this means. It is 
probable that not so many as one hundred have what would 
be recognized as self-government as the term is ordinarily 
used, for this requires unusual ability and constant hard 
work on the part of the teachers in charge; however, ob- 
servation and inquiry lead one to assert with a high degree 
of confidence that responsibility is gradually extended to the 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL 253 

pupils in intermediate schools, according to their abilities 
to assume it, and that an effort is widely made to encourage 
initiation, social cooperation with others, and self-control. 

Guidance. It is a commonplace to say that every pupil 
should have in school a gradually decreasing amount of 
control and guidance until he becomes at leaving time the- 
oretically capable of self-direction. In the ordinary school 
a pupil notably bad, notably studious, notably clever at 
some specialty, notably rich or poor, notably handsome or 
ugly, is likely to receive fortuitous attention and incidental 
guidance; the demand is, however, that this aid be provided 
for every individual. Of course, because of home conditions, 
some pupils will need much more than others the help of 
teachers outside of their classes. The democratic school 
undertakes to equalize opportunities, and to achieve this 
end it must afford help according to the needs of pupils 
both inside and outside the regular curriculum. 

The importance of guidance, both personal and educa- 
tional, increases with the departmentalization of instruc- 
tion. In order that the individual pupil may not be neg- 
lected by his several teachers, it has seemed not only wise, 
but actually imperative, that some adult be appointed his 
adviser. Superintendent Stout, of Topeka, Kansas, argues 
cogently that this adviser should not be a teacher of the 
pupil in any class, for the relation of teacher-pupil very fre- 
quently prevents the close confidences that otherwise may 
develop. Dr. Gosling, formerly of Cincinnati, and many 
others emphasize the importance of this friendly relation. 
Not all principals who accept the ideal have felt it neces- 
sary, however, to appoint an adviser who is not also a 



254 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

teacher of the pupil. Principal Rorem/ of Sioux City, 
writes that he has 

a home-room system whereby the teacher of each room of the first 
period in the morning holds the pupils responsible for conduct, 
attendance, study, and general attitude throughout the day and 
out of class. This teacher is expected to be the guide, adviser, and 
friend to whom the pupil may come at any time on any pretext or 
need. While the home-room is primarily a part of the disciplinary 
organization, it has become inspirational and directive. Welfare 
Period, thirty minutes in length, is conducted every Wednesday 
in the home-room. At this time the pupils are permitted to engage 
in any kind of activity, entertaioment, or fun which meets the 
approval of the teacher. The games, jokes, debates, parties, funny 
stories, programs, current events, knitting, thrift campaigns, Red 
Cross work, parliamentary drills, elections, curio studies, and gen- 
eral good times have done much to bring about a comradeship 
between the teacher and pupils. The home-room teacher is the 
embodiment of the social, moral, civic, and educational guidance. 

In practically every place where the advisory system is 
used, the teacher in charge of a pupil is expected to ascer- 
tain as much as possible about the home conditions, the life 
history, present state of health, and habits of play, work, 
and study of each pupil in his charge. In many places — 
for example, Holstein, Iowa; Los Angeles, California; and 
Renville, Minnesota — these data are kept on special cards 
which are transferred to other advisers with the pupil. 
Berkeley, California, endeavors to keep a pupil with the 
same adviser for a year and a half to two years. " Our teach- 
ing force is constant," wiites the principal of the Luther 
Burbank School; ** hence all old families are known and new 
ones are given particular attention by the adviser on their 
arrival in the neighborhood." At Gary, Indiana, an ad^ 
^ School Emkw^ vol. 27, p. 53. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL ^55 

viser is assigned to a particular section of the city, so that 
he may cumulate information about the living conditions, 
the environments, and any other phases of life that may 
affect the children. This plan is doubtless wise in a city of 
congested and shifting population, but it seems far better 
in other types of cities for an adviser to have a group homo- 
geneous in respect to age and interests. Of course, when- 
ever the duties of advising pupils are added to those of in- 
struction, time should be provided in the schedule for them. 
Such provision is made in Los Angeles and other places. 

An attempt was made to ascertain whom the schools use 
as advisers. Of the 232 junior high schools reporting, more 
than one third use the regular classroom (session room, 
registration) teacher. Nearly one fifth have some one not 

TABLE XLVIII 

Showing whom 232 Junior High Schools use as Advisers 

Nobody 41 

Parents 3 

Superintendent 14 

Special supervisors 3 

Attendance worker 1 

Registrar 1 

All teachers 26 

Former elementary-school teacher 2 

Head of department 2 

Class teacher 80 

Language teacher 1 

Physical instructor 1 

Class adviser 49 

Study-hall teacher 1 

Sponsor 5 

Teacher of vocational discovery 1 

Vocational counselor ...........,...,..,,.,.. 1 

232 



256 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

a teacher of the pupils; the others are widely scattered as 
will be seen in Table XL VIII, which shows whom 232 
junior high schools use as advisers. 

Educational guidance. Wherever opportunities for elec- 
tion of curricula or of courses are offered, there should be a 
concomitant preparation, for the whole system in secondary 
schools is based on the assumption of an intelligent and an 
informed electorate. Several inquiries have shown in pupils 
a profound ignorance concerning the contents and the pos- 
sibilities of the curricula among which they are forced to 
elect. The Lincoln School of Los Angeles begins prepara- 
tion for election before the pupils are transferred from the 
sixth grade. The principal, Miss Andrus, sends to the 
elementary schools, shortly before the period of transfer, 
teachers from her corps and representative pupils, who ex- 
plain the curricula and the general plan of the intermedi- 
ate school. The prospective graduates of the elementary 
schools are urged to spend a day at the Lincoln School get- 
ting acquainted with the general plan which is offered them. 
On the basis of such preparation the pupils make out a ten- 
tative program which is used for the first five weeks. During 
this time a study of the pupils' interests and aptitudes is 
made by the various teachers, and on the basis of the con- 
clusions reached, modifications in the program are made. 

Parents usually need information and guidance quite as 
truly as do their children. In some cities — for example 
Anderson, Indiana — the parents are invited to the junior 
high school before the opening of a term. TLere they have 
explained to them the curricula, and questions are invited. 
After they have sent in registration cards for their children 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL 257 

with data concerning life history, these are carefully studied 
together with the records that the pupils have made in the 
elementary grades; and in the light of the results, elections 
are approved or disapproved. In Hibbing, Minnesota, and 
in many other places, an attempt is made to formulate each 
pupil's program only after a conference between the parents, 
the pupil, and the principal. 

Finally, pupils in junior high schools are occasionally, 
though much less often than the situation demands, advised 
systematically as to the electives open to them in the sen- 
ior high school. In Kalamazoo, Principal Starkweather 
made provision to insure that each pupil be informed as to 
what he can study in the high school, and as to what such 
a curriculum will lead. Similar provision, as will be shown 
later, has been made in ** life-career classes." 

The tendency toward forming homogeneous groups of 
pupils according to their ability to learn is apparently strong. 
Schools for a long time have permitted certain elections or 
an additional subject in the program for pupils who had 
done unusually well in their previous year. At the Speyer 
School, New York City, an attempt has for several years 
been made to secure homogeneity in ability by means of 
standardized psychological and educational tests. Changes 
from group to group are permitted whenever the teachers 
agree that a pupil is better or poorer than some other one in 
another section. The teachers are encouraged to carry each 
group at its optimum pace, and for each pupil there is pro- 
vided personal guidance by a teacher, supplemented by a 
system of oversight and aids from members of the "Lead- 
ers' Club." The result is that some pupils are able to ac- 



258 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

complish three years' work in two; others make normal 
progress; and those not gifted intellectually are carried as 
fast as they can go, with such adaptation in subject-matter 
and in methods as they need. A similar plan of homo- 
geneous grouping has been extended to include thousands 
of intermediate-school children throughout New York City. 
The homogeneous grouping of pupils is likely to be made 
easier by the tests recently standardized, especially those 
by the Council of National Defense. 

Some cities have devised extensive record cards in an 
effort to ascertain the particular fitness of pupils. Vin- 
cennes, Indiana, for example, uses from the beginning of the 
elementary school a card on which each teacher enters her 
estimate of the pupil as to qualities like attentiveness or 
inattentiveness, boldness or bashfulness, enthusiasm or in- 
difference, and as to whether he is a leader or follower, 
original or imitative, brilliant or a plodder, etc.; and at 
Mount Vernon, New York, Principal Palmer, of the Sophie 
J. Mee School, has devised a series of questions to guide 
in the approval of the pupil's election of any curriculum. 
The questions concerning the academic curriculum, for 
example, are: '*Is the pupil a good scholar.^ Is he interested 
in books and work of a research nature? Is he persevering? 
Has he good power of concentration? Is he ambitious for 
some professional career? Is he scientifically inclined? Is 
there strong probability of his being able to continue long in 
school? to attend the high school? to attend college?" It 
is not known to what extent these devices are effective. 
They are likely, however, to call the attention of the ad- 
viser to traits which otherwise might be overlooked. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL 259 

In Mankato, Minnesota, all the teachers of any pupil 
make monthly reports to his adviser as to his effort, prog- 
ress, and conduct. This adviser confers directly with par- 
ents, taking to the principal only such cases as need his 
particular attention. Regular conference hours are provided 
every week in such schools as those at Radcliffe, Iowa, and 
the Bloom Junior High School, Cincinnati, periods in which 
pupils may consult with their advisers or with any teachers 
whom they wish to see about their work. Testimony is very 
general that pupils in junior high schools with advisory 
systems are looked after much more closely than they are in 
the ordinary high school. 

Vocational guidance. It is a lamentable fact that a large 
percentage of boys and girls leave our schools either im- 
mediately at or shortly after the termination of the period 
of compulsory education. What these young people do, 
their successes and future careers, are becoming more and 
more recognized as the concern of the schools. It is gener- 
ally recognized that pupils who leave school at the age of 
fourteen or fifteen seldom enter into an apprenticeship, but 
either go into some office or industry, expecting vaguely to 
"learn the business," or they secure positions of temporary 
character usually characterized as "blind-alley jobs." 

It has been shown that the working child under sixteen is usually 
in a "blind-alley" occupation — often a mere errand boy — and 
finds himself several years later with no worthy calling and no 
preparation for any. Other disadvantages in children's work are 
the necessity for their hunting work (this is especially to be re- 
gretted in the case of young girls), the seasonal character of much 
of the work for the young, the diflSculties due to inefficiency and 
misunderstandings, and the wandering from job to job in the vain 
hope that better conditions of employment will be found. En- 



260 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

lightened employers as well as educational investigators seem to 
have arrived at the conclusion that neither industry nor commerce 
needs the services of children under sixteen, and that their place 
is in the school.^ 

Lewis 2 showed that in two years after leaving school the 
average Iowa boy passes through three jobs: 

The most common method followed by boys in learning a voca- 
tion is a trial and success method. They try this and that pursuit 
to see whether they are suited to it or it suited to them. But no 
elaborate system of vocational schools would entirely eliminate 
this method of learning vocations. It might succeed in reducing 
and eliminating some of the waste resulting from the present 
system. 

How does the young boy or girl secure his position — 

with his eyes open as to the possibilities in and beyond the 

job? with the assistance and guidance of those who know 

more than he? or by his own undirected or fortuitously 

aided initiative? 

. . . Usually in this country the burden of finding employment 
falls upon the individual. The cities and States of America do not 
have well-organized systems of employment bureaus for the pur- 
pose of adjusting either juvenile or adult laborer to employer. The 
boys as they leave school to go to work are for the most part thrown 
upon their own resources as is shown by the results of this investiga- 
tion. More than 85 per cent of the jobs were found by the boys 
hawking for them. The remaining jobs were found in the follow- 
ing ways: 

92 by answering an advertisement 
57 through assistance of parents 
55 through assistance of friends 
1 through teacher in public school 
1 by being asked by an employer. 

1 Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 67, 
pp. 60-61. 
* Lewis, Ervin E.: Work, Wages, and Schooling of 800 Iowa Boys. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL 261 

Apparently the teacher does not attempt to assist these boys in 
seciu-mg work.^ Nor are their friends, relatives, and parents of 
very great assistance. The majority of the boys find work for 
themselves. It seemed not to be considered the business of any 
social agency other than the public school accurately to inform 
such boys concerning the occupations open to them. No literature 
IS handed them concerning desirable vocations, and apparently no 
advice is offered them regardkg unskilled, semi-skilled, or highly 
skilled employments. They are not told about the "blind-alley" 
jobs. No one looks after them systematically, following them 
from the door of the schoolroom into the jobs which necessity or 
choice causes them to accept. They find then- own jobs and take 
th« jobs that they can find quickly. These boys studied are there- 
fore fair examples of what happens m the absence of vocational 
guidance. What might have happened if careful vocational guid- 
ance and supervision had been provided can only be inferred It 
is safe to guess that the percentage of those entering and remaining 
m unskilled and low-grade skilled occupations would have been 
greatly decreased, and also that the "fetching and carrying" occu- 
pations - in which the chief duty is to wait upon the casual needs 
ot others — would have been avoided to a much greater degree.^ 

^ The school is being called on to afford, to the boy and 
girl approaching the end of their period of compulsory 
education, information that may result in their remaining 
longer in school, in their working more definitely toward 
some worthy position, and in preventing their entrance 
upon work that will leave them both inteUectually and pro- 
fessionally on no higher level than the one on which they 
entered. It is often objected that the school cannot give 
infallible guidance toward a vocation, but it certainly should 
be able to compete successfully with the '^suggestions of the 
street, . . . uncritical information about the successes of 
others, incidental suggestions of relatives or of child com- 

* Lewis: Loc. cit. 



262 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

panions, newspaper and magazine advertisements of doubt- 
ful veracity." 

According to Brewer ^ vocational guidance has as its aim 
not only aid to the boy and girl in solving their own problems 
of immediate work, but also the larger end of spreading 
"knowledge of occupational problems throughout society in 
such a way as to help in solving fundamental social and 
civic questions." 

Field ^ thinks that " it is not so important either that the 
child shall select at this early age the exact vocation which 
he will later follow, as it is for the child to have a vocational 
aim which will act as an educational incentive." 

In the formulation of a plan for vocational guidance, it 
is imperative that certain mistakes be avoided. These are 
classified by Cohen ^ as follows: 

1. As to the ends sought, it must not be accepted that educa- 
tional guidance is a panacea, destined to remove all social and 
moral ailments. We must proceed cautiously in evaluating the 
many schemes, sifting the extravagant claims of extremists, and 
rejecting much that is weak. 

2. In our enthusiasm, let us not make educational guidance an 
end in itself. We should constantly bear in mind that it is merely 
a means for producing contented and efficient members of society 
by assisting and advising them in their selection of a career. 

3. The discovery of aptitudes must always be a slow, natural 
process. It should not, with the best of intentions, be forced or 
hastened through "hot-house" methods. Short cuts have no 
place in this process. 

4. The guidance by parents and teachers must be real assistance 
and direction. The temptation to use authority and influence 

^ School and Society, vol. 6, pp. 541-45. 

2 Ibid., vol. 3, p. 871. 

^ Cohen, I. David: Vocational and Educational Guidance in the School. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL 263 

must be resisted lest the initiative of the pupil be deadened, and a 
choice be forced upon the pupil which will not be for his best 
interests. 

5. Care should be exercised lest any plan for educational guid- 
ance degenerate into a system of caste education and develop the 
very objects that it aims to avoid. With this end in view, the 
vocational counselors should be experts not mere experimenters. 

It is quite important, too, that the vocational adviser, 
besides giving information to the pupils regarding various 
types of work and their possibilities, endeavor to ascertain 
not merely what the pupil can do, but the highest type of 
activity in which he is likely to achieve success. Observa- 
tion of several plans has seemed to show an apparent satis- 
faction with directing a pupil into what he is likely to do 
well, even though it is not the highest type of work of which 
he is capable. 

The most frequent means of vocational guidance are 
*' pre vocational work," "life-career or occupations classes," 
or the '* vocational counselor." The pre vocational class 
usually combines a rotation of various industrial subjects 
in periods of six to twelve weeks, with a study of oc- 
cupations and visiting of industrial plants. Perhaps the 
best known of these prevocational courses is the Ettinger 
plan ^ in New York City. This provides that in certain in- 
termediate schools the boys of the seventh and eighth grades 
are given a combination of nine-week units in machine- 
work, sheet metal, wood-working, printing, electric wiring, 

^ Wade: "Experimenting with Prevocational Training in New York 
City," Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 2, pp. 343-53. 

Ettinger: A Report on the Organization and Extension of Prevocational 
Training in Elementary Schools. New York City Department of Education. 
1915. 



264 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

plumbing, drafting, garment-design, sign-painting, and 
bookbinding. The girls are given units in dressmaking, 
millinery, novelty-work, art-weaving, power machines, etc. 
In the Ettinger plan, as pupils manifest a marked power 
in a vocation and predilection for it, they enter special 
training without completing the cycle; if they show marked 
deficiency, they may be transferred to the academic course. 
In other cities — Passaic, for example — the pupils are com- 
pelled to take the entire cycle for "try-outs" because of 
the fact that many pupils are attracted to the first indus- 
try with which they have any experience without learning 
of the possibilities in others which may be better for them. 

Unless these pre vocational *' try-outs" classes are sup- 
plemented by a study of the vocations and their possibilities 
and by visits to shops, they cannot reach their maximum 
effectiveness. It is quite true that such a plan will result in 
guiding children away from certain of the industries, — for 
example, the girls from power machine work; but for a child 
to know what he should for any reason avoid is quite as 
profitable, perhaps, as for him to know a trade for which he 
is fitted. 

*' Life-career or occupations classes" are found in a num- 
ber of progressive junior high schools. That at Middletown, 
Connecticut, is perhaps the one best known and has been 
outlined in a widely used textbook.^ Such a course has also 
been reported at Decatur, Illinois; ^ Butte, Montana; Chel- 
sea, Massachusetts; Mohnton, Pennsylvania; and Lincoln, 
Nebraska.^ In other places — for example, Sacramento, 

1 Gowin and Wheatley: Occupations. Ginn & Co. 

2 School and Home Education, vol. 33, pp. 98-100. 

^ Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 3, p. 395. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL 265 

California; and Dansville, and Cuba, New York — instruc- 
tion is said to be given in this field. 

The subject-matter to be contained in such a course is 
outlined by Brewer as follows : ^ 

^ In every school there should be a general survey of the occupa- 
tional opportunities which lie before children. It makes little 
difference how these occupations be classified, so long as a brief 
but definite examination be made of each of the main vocations 
with its characteristics, advantages, problems or disadvantages, 
remuneration, possible lines of promotion, desirable preparation, 
manner of entering, and service to the community. Another 
group of facts is concerned with the attitude of the worker toward 
all the occupations. For example, beginning with the educational 
guidance requisite for the child's successful school career, we may 
proceed to the consideration of the moral qualities needed for suc- 
cess, the problems of the young worker who enters employment 
unprepared, the opportunities for continuing one's education after 
beginning work, labor laws, methods of choosing an occupation, 
means of entering upon work, opportunities for securing advice, 
ways of studying the job and securing promotion, and the relation 
of one's occupation to the other duties and opportunities of life. 
Unless the child is to have an opportunity for a simple study of 
elementary economics and sociology in another class, the occupa- 
tions class should take up the questions of causes of high and low 
wages, fluctuation in prices, purposes, kinds and incidence of taxa- 
tion, proposed reforms in taxation, factors of production, wastes 
in unproductive labor, distribution of wealth, methods of and waste 
in the distribution of goods to consumers, land tenure, rent, the 
relation of government to the occupation, thrift, labor unions, etc. 

Cohen and other writers urge the necessity of including in 
such a course elements of civics, ethics, economics, and so- 
cial problems such as that of labor unions. 

A course of occupations is frequently supplemented by a 
series of talks given by representatives of various professions 
^ School and Society, vol. 6, p. 542. 



266 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

and industries. Such talks are reported from Silverton, 
Colorado; Renville, Minnesota; McVille, North Dakota; 
Ashland, Oregon; and New Cumberland, West Virginia. 
Unquestionably these may be made of much profit to chil- 
dren, though without close direction by the principal there is 
almost inevitably great waste in that the speakers do not 
fully comprehend the problem, or else they give an un- 
balanced conception of their own vocation. Furthermore, 
as Brewer warns, instead of facts the school may get "rem- 
iniscences, fatherly advice, big talk about successes, unsocial 
statements about competition, and various other objection- 
able matters." Some schools have followed the plan out- 
lined by Davis ^ for the senior high school at Grand Rapids, 
Michigan. This plan provides for a study in the English 
class of abilities, interests, aptitudes, and possibilities in a 
number of vocations. It is said to have been used in the 
intermediate schools of Topeka, Kansas; North Easton, 
Massachusetts; and Butte, Montana. 

Besides the books mentioned in the preceding paragraphs 
Cohen suggests the following for the use of pupils studying 
vocations : 

1. Bloomfield, Meyer: Readings in Vocational Guidance. 
9>. Bloomfield, Meyer: Vocational Guidance of Youth. 

3. Fowler: Choosing an Occupation. 

4. Fowler: Books on Occupations for Boys and Girls. 

5. Marden, Orison : Choosing a Career. 

6. Parsons, Frank: Choosing a Career. 

7. Puffer, Joseph: Vocational Guidance. 

8. Weaver, Ely : Profitable Occupations for Boys and Girls. 

9. Vocational Bureau of Boston : Pamphlets. 

^ Davis: Vocational and Moral Guidance. Ginn & Co. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL 267 

The idea of the vocational counselor in the junior high 
school has been very popular because of the obvious possi- 
bilities. Objections have been made, however, that there 
are no teachers adequately trained for this work. It is in 
all probability true that few have adequate training, but 
there can scarcely be an intelligent adult interested in in- 
dividual pupils who cannot acquire sufficient information 
about the vocations of a community to render valuable 
assistance. Brewer says that the school 

organization should provide for iadividual conferences on voca- 
tional choices, and on such questions as further education, means 
of preparation for particular occupations, opportunities of earning 
money to allow the education to be continued, and preferences of 
parents. These conferences need be nothing more than friendly 
conversations, with information and advice suited to the needs of 
the individual. Each child may be asked to choose several occupa- 
tions for special study, with tentative decision on one or two. No 
pupil should be asked to make his final choice of an occupation 
prematurely; many may profitably delay the choice until the col- 
lege age. We may insist, however, that no one should be forced 
by economic necessity, or by the negligence of the schools, to enter 
a job or an occupation blindly.^ 

The vocational counselor should have ample time pro- 
vided for his work. It is necessary for him to spend a con- 
siderable amount of time visiting and studying local indus- 
tries and the homes of pupils, and much at the school in 
personal conferences with individual pupils. 

Mount Vernon, New York; Vincennes, Indiana; and other 
cities provide cards on which a cumulative record is made of 
particular qualities and activities that seem to reveal fitness 
or unfitness for certain vocations. Such cards have proved 

1 Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 67, 
pp. 57-58. 



268 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

of considerable value, though the counselor should be on 
his guard against the notion that persistence or similar quali- 
ties found in one field inevitably manifest themselves in aU 
others. To quote Brewer once again: ^ 

It is now beginning to be seen that persons cannot be ticketed 
in this naive manner — that the disorderly boy in one kind of 
activity is likely to become orderly in another, and that even a 
moral quality as honesty may, by the same person, be exhibited 
in one situation and be lacking in another. In other words, the 
theory of formal discipline or general training must not deceive the 
teachers; there are few if any mental qualities which, when present 
in one activity* may be credited to an individual as a general char- 
acteristic. A boy's perseverance ia baseball does not guarantee 
his perseverance in arithmetic. Some teachers attach too great 
importance to mere physical characteristics, or to such vague and 
unmeasured hypotheses as "the influence of heredity," "innate 
qualities," "native ability," and others. All reliance on such 
data, together with phrenology, "character analysis," and study of 
physiognomies, had best be left to the charlatan. Life is too com- 
plex for such short cuts — scientific study of vocational-guidance 
problems is necessary, and there is no easy way. 

The vocational -guidance record devised by Cohen and 
used at a New York City public school, is here given: 

Vocational-Guidance Record 

1. Name of Pupil 2. Age 3. Grade 

4. Residence 5. Parent's Name 

6. Parent's Occupation 

7. Parent's Plans for Pupil 

8. Pupil Excels in What Subjects 

9. Pupil Fails in What Subjects 

10. Pupil Shows Dislike in What Subjects 

11. Special Aptitudes Noted by the Teacher 

12. Teacher's Recommendations for Pupil's Future 



1 Loc. cit, pp. 62-63. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL 269 



13. Pupil's Plans 

A. Continued Education I. High School 

11. Vocational School 
m. Business Course . . 
IV. Other Plan 

B. Work.? I. Nature 

II. Wages 

m. Knowledge of ... . 
IV. Other Plan 

C. Other Intentions.'' 

14. Counselor's Advice 



Vocational Expeeience Record 

A. Record in Educational Institutions 

I. Elementary Effort. . . .Proficiency Deportment. 

n. High School: Year 1. . . .Year 2. . . .Year 3. . . .Year 4.. 
ni. Other Institutions 

B. Positions Held 

When: Where: Nature: Wages: Comment of Employer: 

1 

2 



Some of the junior high schools have undertaken voca- 
tional guidance for pupils by means of placement in after- 
noons and Saturdays for part-time work, or in summers for 
full work, in order that children may not only be tried out 
themselves, but may explore a vocation in which they are 
interested. There is conflicting opinion as to the school's 
responsibility for the placement of its pupils when they 
leave for work. It is obvious, however, that some instru- 
ment of the State should be concerned with this phase of 
guidance. 

Of the 293 junior high schools in the North Central Terri- 
tory, 136, or 46.4 per cent, reported to Davis that they had 
some form of vocational guidance. 



CHAPTER XI 
BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS 

The adequacy of buildings and grounds for junior high 
schools must be considered in terms of educational purposes. 
Any school building requires provisions for proper light, 
heat, space, toilets, safety, and the like; but a junior high 
school congregating adolescents for an intermediate type of 
education needs to consider especially a location that will 
permit of assembling enough pupils to warrant the be- 
ginnings of differentiation, grounds ample for the desired 
program of physical training and for agriculture, gym- 
nasiums, assembly halls and social rooms for a program 
of extra-curriculum activities, lunch-rooms if the length 
of day is extended, and laboratories and shops for explor- 
atory or prevocatio^al training. 

Inasmuch as the site for a junior high school is frequently 
determined by the location of property already owned by 
the board of education or available for the money that can 
be expended, there are many compromises with the ideal. 
Superintendent Spaulding ^ proposed the reasonable stand- 
ards shown in Table XLIX for pupils to travel to school. 
Inquiry was repeatedly made on visits to junior high schools 
regarding the maximum distance that pupils had to come, 
and very seldom was the standard of one mile exceeded. 
At Grand Junction, Colorado, and at several Indiana 
schools, wagons are used to transport pupils who live at a 
^ A Million a Year. Minneapolis, 1916. 



BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS 271 

TABLE XLIX 

Showing Proposed Standard Radius in Miles of School 

Territory 

Grades Maximum Desirable 

Kg.-VI 1 mile f mile 

VII-IX 1| miles 1 mile 

X-Xn 2 miles 1^ miles 

distance; but junior high schools are essentially local institu- 
tions. When the maximum distance for pupils is more than 
one and one half miles, there is almost inevitably loss in 
holding-power. In Evansville, Indiana, according to Super- 
intendent Benezet, when two eighth grades were opened to 
accommodate pupils living more than one and one half 
miles from the junior-senior high-school building, there was 
an immediate increase of one hundred in enrollment. 

The Strayer standards give a perfect score for five to 
twelve acres of school grounds; other standards demand 
approximately one hundred square feet per pupil for play 
space. Of 112 junior high schools reporting on this item 
only twelve have more than five acres in their site; 44 have 
less than one acre. Several of the newly built city schools 
— in Houston, Trenton, and Boyle Heights, Los Angeles — 
have made ample provision for playing-fields and even for 
agricultural plots. The land values reported by 101 junior 
high schools range from $100 to $250,000, with a median of 
$25,000. 

Partly because of different ideals, but more because of 
local conditions, junior high schools are variously housed. 
Out of a total of 317 schools reporting on this item, 88 are in 
buildings of their own, some of these being old high-school 
buildings and others elementary-school buildings more or 



272 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

less remodeled for the purpose. Abandoned high-school 
buildings, which have many features desirable for the inter- 
mediate school, have been utilized in Decatur, Illinois; 
Grand Rapids, Michigan; Fremont, Ohio; AUentown, Penn- 
sylvania; Arlington, Massachusetts; and other places. 

Ninety junior high schools are housed with the elementary 
grades, sometimes because of a belief that it is best to keep 
together all children until the period of considerable differ- 
entiation, sometimes because of economy, sometimes be- 
cause of objections by parents to the removal of younger 
pupils to more remote buildings, and occasionally, as in 
Cincinnati, because of the ideal of making the junior high 
school a neighborhood center for all the people. Eighty- 
three junior high schools, usually in cities of 5000 to 50,000 
population, are housed with the senior high school; among 
other cities having a six-year secondary school may be men- 
tioned Detroit (four schools), Los Angeles (one school), and 
Belleville Township, IlUnois. In McMinnville, Oregon; 
Anderson, Indiana; and perhaps other places the junior- 
high-school building is proximate to the senior high school, 
thus making possible many desired forms of cooperation. 
Fifty-three junior high schools, usually in rural communities 
or small towns, are housed with both the elementary and the 
higher secondary schools. In only an insignificant number 
of places is there a twelve-year unit because of a belief that 
all children in the public schools should be thrown together. 
Three junior high schools of those reporting are in buildings 
also used for the training of teachers. ; 

It is interesting to contrast the percentages of the 314 ^ 
1 Deducting the three housed with teacher-training schools. 



BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS 273 

schools variously housed with those found by Douglass ^ 
from his questionnaire study of 169 schools, and by Davis ^ 
from his more complete returns from 272 schools in the 
North Central Association Territory. The fact that none 
of Douglass's or of Davis's schools reported being housed 
with all the other grades (this probably being due to the 
form of questionnaire used) of course makes the figures not 
strictly comparable. 

TABLE L 

Showing the Housing of Junior High Schools 

Housed U.S. (314) Doug. (178) No.Cent. (272) 

separately 28.0% 2Q.6% 18.0% 

with elementary school 28.7% 37.7% 31.2% 

with senior high school 26.4% 36.1% 50.7% 
with both elementary 

and senior high school 17.0% ? ? 

100.0% 100.0% 99.9% 

Among other cities that have erected buildings specifically 
for junior high schools, and consequently containing inter- 
esting features, may be mentioned Houston, Texas; Kansas 
City, Kansas; Richmond, Virginia; Trenton, New Jersey; 
and Rochester, New York (the Jefferson School). 

Of 235 junior high schools reporting on the item, half of 
them were erected before 1908, and 166, or 70.6 per cent, 
before 1914; these facts reveal the amount of adaptation. 
The median of original cost of 199 buildings was a little over 

^ Douglass: The Junior High School. Part iii of the Fifteenth Y ear-Book 
of the National Society for the Study of Education. To make the numbers 
more nearly comparable, a few schools were omitted in obtaining these 
percentages. 

2 C. O. Davis: Junior High Schools in the North Central Association 
Territory, 1917-1918. 



274 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

$50,000; one fourth of the buildings cost less than $35,000 
and one fourth more than $100,000. 

Fifty-eight buildings occupied by junior high schools are 
reported as having been remodeled, but probably the four* 
teen that were remodeled before 1912 had no changes made 
in them especially for their present purpose. In one half 
the cases less than $5000 was spent in alterations, which 
would imply that little adaptation to new needs was made. 
This implication is not generally sound, however, for in some 
of the small junior high schools of Vermont, for instance, 
very satisfactory improvements were secured by a minimum 
outlay of money, the boys doing much of the work of remod- 
eling as a part of their training in manual arts. 

More important than the cost of the building or the date 
of its erection is its adaptation to the work for which it is 
intended. Of 224 schools reporting on the item, 188, or 84 
per cent, have libraries.^ The number of volumes ranges 
from 50-100 to 6500-7000, the median number being 800-900. 
Several schools are near public libraries, in at least two of 
which regular classes are conducted in finding and effec- 
tively using books. 

Assembly halls are in 198, or 85 per cent, of the 244 schools 

reporting, four of the schools having two such halls. In a 

number of the smaller schools assembly is held in one of the 

largest recitation-rooms; whether such rooms are listed as 

assembly halls is unknown. In the Boyle Heights (Los 

Angeles) School there are two small auditoriums, which are 

used for classes in public speaking, dramatics, and music. 

^ See Certain, C. C: "A Standard High-School Library Organization 
for Accredited Secondary Schools of Different Sizes," Educational Admin- 
istration and Supervision, vol. 3, pp. 317-38, especially pp. 332-33. 



BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS 275 

One or more gymnasiums are provided in 126, or 51.0 per 
cent, of the 247 schools reporting. It may safely be said 
that practically all of the large schools have provision for 
indoor physical training; there is also a strong tendency 
where new grounds are secured to provide more adequate 
out-of-door playing space. Sixteen schools report that they 
have swimming-pools. 

The proportion of junior high schools having auditoriums 
and gymnasiums is gratifying, but its significance does not 
become really apparent until it is contrasted with the pro- 
portion of unreorganized schools having these special rooms. 
Combining our data with those presented in Bulletin 44 
(1915) of the United States Bureau of Education, which 
reports conditions in 1334 towns or cities of 2500 to 30,000 
population, we find the following: 

TABLE LI 

Showing per cents of Schools having Auditoriums and 

Gymnasiums 

Representative Auditoriums Gymnasiums 

Junior high schools 85.0 51.0 

Grade buildings 23 . 74 

High schools 67.0 35^0 

Although the data for elementary and high schools are from 
no cities above 30,000, a comparison with those from repre- 
sentative high schools is on the whole fair. The conclusion 
is either that more progressive cities establish junior high 
schools or that junior high schools generally secure audito- 
riums and gymnasiums better than do other types. 

One hundred and ten, or nearly half, of the 228 schools re- 
porting, have special lunch-rooms. These range from simple 



276 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

bare rooms with chairs or benches and tables to completely 
equipped cafeterias such as are found in the large modern 
high-school buildings. It is common testimony that if 
pupils must remain at the school through the noon hour the 
lunch-room is an economical investment. Moreover, it is 
frequently a profitable laboratory for the pupils taking 
household arts and accounting. Superintendent Wirt states 
that he finds girls of pre-adolescent period more willing to do 
various kinds of work in the lunch-rooms than they are 
when slightly older and more self-conscious. 

Laboratories are reported in 185, or 79 per cent, of the 234 
schools that answered the question. Of these 164 have one 
laboratory, fifteen have two, three have three, one has four, 
and two have five. It is probable that the majority of the 
schools not reporting on this topic have no laboratories. 

Shops are reported of many kinds. Table LII shows 
the kinds of shops and the number of schools reporting 
each. Nothing else could so emphasize the experimental 
attitude of the junior high school regarding the kind of in- 
dustrial work, prevocational exploration, or cultural hand- 
training, and the effort to adapt the industrial education 
to local needs, as the variety in kinds of shop. 

There is reason to believe that these figures are far below 
the fact. There are listed, for example, only six schools 
with special rooms for stenography and typewriting, whereas 
there are actually several times that number in the sixty 
schools visited. Besides the two listed, at least Rochester, 
New York, also has a shop for automobile repairs. Similarly, 
only twenty-eight schools report print-shops, whereas Davis 
had returns from twenty-four schools offering printing in the 



BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS 



277 



TABLE Ln 

Number Number 
Shop or laboratory of schools Shop or laboratory of schools 
Agriculture. 86 Freehand drawing 4 



Gardening 3 

Woodworking 211 

Manual training 1 

Joinery 1 

Mill .'.'.'.'.'.' 1 

Pattern-making 3 

Turning 1 

Jobbing 1 

Specialties 1 

Sheet-metal 37 

Machine-shop 9 

Gas-engine 2 

Automobile repair 2 

Mechanical engineering. . . 1 

Electrical engineering 1 

Electricity 10 

Forging 10 

Mechanical drawing 5 

DraftiQg 1 



Painting 2 

Plumbing 1 

Printing 2S 

Cement work g 

Clay modeling 1 

Shoemaking g 

Tailoring 1 

Barbering j 

Stenography and typewriting . 6 

Bookbinding 5 

Copper and jewelry 1 

Reedwork i 

Laundry j 

Sewing 215 

Millinery i 

Design j 

Cooking 221 

Physiography 1 

Total 7882 



North Central Territory alone. The questionnaire was long 
and those making the returns probably tired of giving details. 
Among the unusually interesting shops may be mentioned 
one at the Fourteenth Street Intermediate School in Los 
Angeles for the training of negro boys to be cooks in Pull- 
man dining-cars; one for barbering at Xenia, Ohio; the two 
for automobile repairs at Oakland, California, and Grand 
Rapids, Michigan; and the specialty shop at New Britain, 
Connecticut. 

Engelhardt 1 found the following interesting facts regard- 
mg the distribution of floor space in nine junior high schools: 



^ A School-Building Program for Cities. 
used, see page 76. 



For definitions of the terms 



g78 THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 

TABLE Lin 

Showing by Percentage the Distribution of the Entire 
Floor Space of Nine Junior High Schools 

Median 25 Percentile 75 Percentile 

Administration 15 . 56 sq. ft. 11 . 62 sq. ft. 17. 75 sq. ft- 

Instruction 41.11 35.52 43.45 

Social activities 15 . 84 12 . 82 18 . 80 

General 20.56 17.03 21.06 

Construction 8.21 6.96 9.59 

The percentage of the entire floor space devoted to instruc- 
tional and social activities combined was as shown in 

Table LIV. 

TABLE LIV 

Showing Percentage of Entire Floor Space of Nine Junior 
High Schools devoted to Instruction and Social Activities 

A 
B 
C 

All facts show that in general no provisions for buildings 
have generally been made commensurate with the needs 
and ideals of the junior high school. The new institution 
has for the most part been housed in cast-off buildings or 
combined with the elementary- or high-school grades. 
These economies and makeshifts have been necessary to 
secure the organization at all. As it proves its worth and 
manifests its needs, adequate buildings are likely to be pro- 
vided. A few cities, mentioned on page 273, have already 
erected buildings that are long steps in advance for the 
education of early adolescents; and several of the larger 
cities — for example, Philadelphia, Boston, Oakland and 
Buffalo — have entered on a program that will result in a 
number of special buildings for intermediate schools. 



61.9 


D.... 


56.6 


G... 


...54.0 


61.8 


E.... 


....55.1 


H... 


...53.0 


60.2 


F 


....54.8 


I... 


...48.0 



CHAPTER Xn 
COSTS 

WsEN offered something new and attractive, our natural 
question is, "What will it cost?" We balance the advan- 
tages of the new against those of the old, consider the likeli- 
hood of realizing them in practice, estimate their relative 
values, review our assets, and make a decision. This proc- 
ess is precisely the one an administrator is impelled to fol- 
low when he hears the claims for the junior high school. 

The question of cost is exceedingly complex. If we seek 
to ascertain what junior high schools have cost in various 
cities, we find few reports, and those computed by such 
different methods as seldom to be strictly comparable. And 
even if schoolmen were good accountants and reported out- 
lays that could be fairly compared, it will be obvious from 
previous chapters that the amounts have been expended for 
schools very different in organization and aims, even though 
bearing the same name. Moreover, many items that should 
be considered cannot be readily evaluated in dollars and 
cents. How much, for example, is it worth to a community 
for a school to awaken in a boy an impelling ambition or to 
retain him for study a year longer than he would otherwise 
remain? 

The problem of cost is too important, however, to be dis- 
missed merely because it is difficult. In this chapter will 
be presented the facts, so far as they could be secured, of the 
absolute and relative monetary costs of junior high schools. 



280 THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 

and later an analytic set of questions that must be answered 
before the problem can be fully solved. 

The questionnaire used in this study asked for the per 
capita cost (total expenditure for instruction and mainte- 
nance divided by the average number of pupils attending) in 
grades 1 to 6, 1 to 8, 7 and 8, the junior high school, and the 
senior high school. , Only a few of the reports gave costs for 
each group of grades, and not many more for enough of the 
groups to make the returns worth considering here. Only 
those data pertinent to our discussion are presented in the 
tables of this chapter. The returns are reproduced as re- 
ceived, except that costs given by the month were multi- 
plied arbitrarily by nine, and that in two instances corrected 
data are supplied from oiBBcial sources; there has been no 
further attempt to go behind the figures reported. One 
should keep in mind, however, that the schools differed 
greatly in organization, size, equipment, etc., as is obvious 
if one studies the details. The tables presented in this chap- 
ter show merely the amounts of money the cities report 
having expended for the different types of schools. Whether 
or not a high or a low expenditure is economical is entirely 
another question, to be answered by a consideration of the 
relative worth of what was secured in return. 

Table LV presents the returns from all places that 
reported the per capita costs in both junior and senior 
high schools. When the costs for any of the other combi- 
nations of grades are given, they are included also. The 
average per capita cost for thirty-nine junior high schools 
reporting is $53.72; the average cost of the thirty-five 
senior high schools is $65.60. In other words, in these cities. 



COSTS 



9Sl 



TABLE LV 

Showing the per Capita Costs of the Several School 

Divisions 



City 



New Cumberland, W. Va. . . . 

Radcliffe, Iowa 

Johnstown, Penn 

Chacotah, Okla 

Mohnton, Penn 

Saline, Mich 

Richmond, Va., Belle view.. . . 
" Binford 

Hays, Kansas 

Bowling Green, Ohio 

Topeka, Kansas 

Albany, Oregon 

Muncie, Ind 

Williamsport, Ind 

Crawfordsville, Ind 

New Britain, Conn 

Dansyille, N.Y 

McMinnville, Oregon 

Anderson, Ind 

East Chicago, Ind 

Mankato, Minn 

Independence, Iowa 

Muskogee, Okla 

Granite District, Utah 

Decatur, 111 

Hibbing, Minn , 

Essex Center, Vt 

Kalamazoo, Mich 

Trenton, N. J 

Pomona, Cal 

Berkeley, Cal 

Grand Rapids, Mich 

Oakland, Cal 

Old Town, Me 

Pasadena, Cal 

Los Angeles, Cal., Sentous . . . 
" 14th Street 
" Berendo.. 
« McKinley. 



Grades 
I-VI 



Grades 
I-VIII 



21.15 


24.12 


21.00 


22.24 


13.50 


* • 


26.00 


31.00 


24.75 


26.55 


18.14 






32.40 


30.00 


30.00 


18.45 




24.93 


24.93 


26.47 


35.27 


25.00 




32.50 


35.50 


30.12 






28.08 


36.00 


38.00 


31.00 




48.00 




36.46 


40.12 


, , 


33.38 


54.54 




63.00 


62.95 




36.07 




64 . 65 


56.03 


63.08 



Grades 
VII- 
VIII 



27.00 
23.50 



37.00 
28.35 
30.00 



24.93 
59.39 



39.00 
56.83 



45.00 



45.78 

91.19 
96.67 
44.20 
62.52 

75.00 



Junior 

High 

School 



24.00 
27.00 
35.73 
29.75 
25.00 
40.00 
32.09 
37.30 
28.35 
48.51 
26.01 
40.00 
50.40 
33.75 
24.93 
59.39 
35.00 
45.00 
41.00 
56.83 
40.00 
36.00 
34.11 
50.00 
51.00 
62.00 
30.00 
58.00 
74.25 
91.19 
96.61 
73.51 
90.00 
76.50 
75.00 
91.00 
107.06 
105.33 
113.55 



Senior 

High 

School 



29.50 
37.98 
38.16 
40.00 
40.00 
40.00 
43.56 

44.01 
45.23 
45.36 
48.80 
50.40 
50.50 
51.30 
51.47 
55.00 
55.00 
56.40 
56.83 
60.00 
63.00 
65.70 
70.00 
71.00 
72.00 
75.00 
78.23 
85.68 
91.19 
96.61 
97.71 
100.92 
103.92 
140.36 
145.08 



282 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

the junior high school costs on the average eighteen per cent 
less than the senior high school. In one place it costs only- 
forty per cent as much; in five places it costs the same; and 
in two places actually more. High costs for either type of 
school usually are due to a large amount of industrial shop- 
work. 

Table LVI presents the data from twenty-two cities that 
report the costs for the first six grades, the junior high 
school, and the senior high school. The average per capita 
cost in the elementary grades is $31.38; the average for the 
junior high schools is $50.04; and the average for the senior 
high schools is $63.48. Roughly, the costs of the three 
types of schools in these twenty-two places are in the propor- 
tions of 5-9-10. 

If we assume that the pupils in these twenty cities are 
distributed through the grades according to the estimate 
of the United States Commissioner of Education ^ for the 
country at large, and if we assume, further, that without 
junior high schools the per capita cost for the first six grades 
would remain the same through grades seven and eight, and 
that the per capita cost for the senior high schools would be 
the same with the ninth grade included, then we are able to 
compare the cost of systems with and without junior high 
schools. The conditions being granted, the cost to these 
twenty-two cities for a junior-high-school organization was 
three and one third per cent more than it would have been 
with an eight-year elementary school followed by a four-year 
high school. This estimate does not take into account any 
changes that may have been achieved in retention of pupils, 
1 Report for 1917, vol. ii, p. 7. 



COSTS 



283 



TABLE LVI 

Showing the per Capita Costs of Several School Divisions 
IN THE Same 22 Cities 



City 



Radcliffe, Iowa 

Johnstown, Penn 

Mohnton, Penn 

Saline, Mich , 

Hays, Kansas 

Bowling Green, Ohio , 

Albany, Oregon 

Williamsport, Ind 

Crawf ordsville, Ind 

New Britain, Conn 

DansviUe, N.Y 

Anderson, Ind 

East Chicago, Ind 

Granite District, Utah 

Decatur, 111 

Lewiston, Idaho 

Hibbing, Minn 

Kalamazoo, Mich 

Trenton, N.J 

Pomona, Cal 

Berkeley, Cal 

Los Angeles, Cal., Sentous . . . . 

" 14th Street. 

*' Berendo.... 
' McKinley.. 



Grades 
I-VI 



21.15 
21.00 
13.50 
26.00 
24.75 
18.14 
30.00 
18.45 
24.93 
26.47 
25.00 
32.50 
30.12 
36.00 
31.00 
31.00 
48.00 
34.46 
24.32 
54.54 
63.00 
56.03 



Grades 


Junior 

High 

School 


VII-VIII 


27.00 


27.00 


23.50 


35.73 


, , 


25.00 


37.00 


40.00 


28.35 


28.35 




48.51 


30.00 


40.00 




33.75 


24.93 


24.93 


59.39 


59.39 


. , 


35.00 


39.00 


41.00 


56.83 


56.83 


45.00 


50.00 


, , 


51.00 


, . 


51.00 


. , 


62.00 


45.78 


58.00 




74.25 


91.19 


91.19 


96.67 


96.61 


, , 


91.00 


. . 


107.06 


, , 


109.79 




113.55 



Senior 

High 

School 



37.98 
38.16 
40.00 
40.00 
44.01 
45.23 
48.80 
50.50 
51.30 
51.47 
55.00 
56.40 
56.83 
70.00 
71.00 
71.00 
72.00 
78.23 
85.68 
91.19 
96.61 

145.08 



saving of time, increased educational values, or any other 
matters. 

Following is an estimate of the comparative costs in 
St. Louis: 

• The cost per pupil for instruction in the Ben Blewett Junior 
High School during the year 1917-18 was about $75, as against $40 
for the elementary schools, and $105 for the four-year high schools. 



284 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

However, the comparative cost per pupil per year does not take 
into account several factors. The seventh- and eighth-grade costs 
in the regular elementary schools are higher than in the lower 
grades, so that the cost per pupil would probably be nearer $50 
than $40. On the other hand, the high-school freshmen cost less 
per pupil year than the third- and fourth-year students; so that the 
cost of the ninth grades in the regular high schools is probably 
nearer $90 than $105. Assuming these estimates to be nearly cor- 
rect, the junior-high-school pupils of the seventh and eighth grades, 
approximately two thirds of the total enrollment, should be 
checked up against the $50 cost of the elementary schools, and the 
ninth grade, one third, against the high-school cost of $90; thus: 
2/3X50+ 1/3X90 = $63.33 per pupil in comparison to $75 actual 
cost. 

However, the pupils in junior high school make more rapid 
progress than in elementary school or high school. The cost per 
grade progress in 1917-18 was only $57 in all three grades, making 
the saving on 1400 children, the average membership of the 
school, a saving of more than $8000 annually to the community. 

And yet the total money cost is not apparently less because the 
junior high school retains its pupils, and as long as they remain, 
the school does not save the money ordinarily saved by eliminating 
one third to two thirds of the pupils. The elimination owing to 
pupils going to work or remaining at home was less than 3 per 
cent during the year 1917-18. Indeed, the school is promoting to 
the tenth grade of the senior high school more pupils from its half 
of the old Soldan High School district than used to enter the tenth 
grade from the whole district, about 550 children a year.^ 

Illustrating some of the difficulties of securing accurate 
and comparable statements of costs and of the variations 
even in the same city, the following comments on repre- 
sentative data are presented. 

One city in the Far West furnished data from which 
Table LVII is made: 

1 Lyman: "The Ben Blewett Junior High School of St. Louis," School 
Review, vol. 28, p. 110. 



COSTS 



285 



TABLE LVII 
Showing Enrollment and per Pupil Costs in One City 



Year 


No. of 

pupils 

grades 

VII-XII 


No. of 
teachers 

grades 
VII-XII 


Total 
cost 

salaries 


Per capita 
cost of 

instruction 

grades 
VII-XII 


Per capita 

cost of 
maintaining 
the whole 

system 


8-4 organization, 
1913-14 


327 

422 
469 
532 


17 

18 
18 
19 


$13,900 

15,575 
17,406 
18,459 


$42.51 

36.91 
37.11 
34.70 


$44.44 

39.78 
32.92 

? 


Junior High Schools 
established — 

1914-15 

1915-16 

1916-17* 



* First Semester only 

On the face of the returns the junior high school has had 
a wonderful effect on the number of pupils above the ele- 
mentary grades at a marked reduction in per capita cost. 
But are there other pertinent facts involved? Disregarding 
rather marked differences in figures furnished by the super- 
intendent at different times, differences due probably to 
different methods of computing costs, we must note first of 
all that the gross expenditure for salaries in the six superior 
grades increased 24.7 per cent, with an average increase per 
teacher of 15.8 per cent. The decrease per capita cost must 
be due, then, to such an increase in the number of pupils as 
to permit of classes of larger size. (As the per capita costs 
for grades 7 to 12 and for grades 1 to 12 are derived by 
different methods, they cannot be compared.) The effect 
of educational changes in a school system is usually slow; 
the increase in the number of pupils here, after the estabHsh- 
ment of the junior high school, is so sudden as to suggest 



280 THE JUNIOR fflGH SCHOOL 

that other causes may have been at work. These were 
found to be a truancy law for the first time efficiently admin- 
istered and a successful campaign for high-school pupils 
from adjacent districts without secondary schools of their 
own. That the registration continued to grow and the per 
capita cost to decrease in spite of an increased salary aver- 
age is evidence that the maximum size of the classes possible 
with the building and equipment had not been reached; if 
the increase continues, the curve of per capita costs will, of 
course, not so steadily fall. These facts do not prove that 
the institution of a junior high school has been ineffective; 
a day spent in examining the organization and visiting the 
classes revealed merits which unaided should result in a 
larger and more healthful attendance. The facts do show, 
however, that conclusions should not be hastily drawn from 
data that do not present all of the material evidence in a 
situation. 

A city in the South, which failed to report data on the 
questionnaire, has a per capita cost for its junior high schools 
considerably higher than that for its senior high school. 
Investigation showed that the senior high school was housed 
in an old building inadequate for even the traditional aca- 
demic courses; it had no assembly hall, no gymnasium, and 
only makeshifts for laboratories; its grounds extended only 
a few yai'ds to the street. The junior high schools, on the 
other hand, were in every sense modem. One of them, on a 
campus of seven and a half acres, lias a building costing a 
quarter of a million doHai^. It has an assembly hall with 
a moving-picture booth, an outdoor theater, a library, labo- 
ratories, shops, and a gymnasium with a swimming-pooL 



COSTS 287 

**It costs more," said the superintendent, *'not because it is 
a junior high school, but because it gives more." 

For this report a comparative study of costs of the several 
types of schools in Grand Bapids, Michigan, was made by 
Professor C. O. Davis, the city being selected because it 
contains six-year elementary schools, eight-year elementary 
schools, a three-year junior high school established in 1912, 
a four-year high school, and two six-year high schools. 

The cost for instruction in this study of the Grand Rapids 
schools is based on the enrollment and salary list (including 
teachers, regular and special, principals, and clerks), for the 
second semester 1916-17, while the cost for maintenance and 
equipment is based on the expenditures and enrollment for 
the year 1915-16. Maintenance includes the following 
items: janitors' salaries, upkeep of buildings, upkeep of 
grounds, fuel, water, light and power, furniture, general 
supplies, and janitors' supplies. The cost of equipment was 
found by computing the interest at five per cent of the valu- 
ation of the buildings, grounds, and equipment. 

In figuring the per capita cost we did not take into con- 
sideration all the schools of the city, but tried to take schools 
which would be representative of the various social com- 
munities within the city. Madison, Buchanan, Turner, 
and Plainfield are schools which contain only the first six 
grades, and are situated in various sections of the city. 
Sigsbee, Hall, Palmer, and Lexington Schools contain the 
eight elementary grades, and are also situated in the various 
sections of the city. The Junior High School aims to contain 
only the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades, but at the pres- 
ent time it has also some pupils in the fifth, sixth, and tenth 



^88 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



grades. The Union School contains all the grades from the 
first to the twelfth, and is situated on the West Side, which 
is chiefly a manufacturing district. The South High con- 
tains the grades from the seventh to eleventh, inclusive; 
however, it is intended to add a twelfth grade next year. 
The Central High School is the old conventional type of 
high school, contains grades nine to twelve inclusive, and 
is situated in the best residential section of the city. The 
comparative costs are given in the following tables. 

TABLE LVIII 

Showing the per Capita Cost per Annum op Education in 
Grades One to Six of Four Schools in Grand Rapids 



Item 


Madison 
School 


Buchanan 
School 


Turner 
School 


Plainfield 
School 


Average 


Instruction 


$28.21 

7.42 
5.27 


$24.72 
7.50 
4.32 


$25.53 
6.95 
5.38 


$23.06 
6.96 
2.70 


$25.38 


Maintenance 


7.21 


Interest on equipment . . . 


4.42 


Totals 


$40.90 


$36.54 


$37.86 


$32.72 


$37.01 







TABLE LIX 

Showing the per Capita Cost per Annum of Education in the 
Seventh Grade of Seven Schools in GraxNTd Rapids 



Item 


Sigsbee 
(a) 


Hall 
(a) 


Palmer 
(a) 


Lexing- 
ton (a) 


Junior 
(6) 


Union 

(c) 


South 
(d) 


Instruction 


$33.96 
11.03 

9.38 


$34.72 
8.69 

4.48 


$27.20 
7.28 

5.35 


$40.44 
13.86 

10.41 


$55.62 
12.41 

8.78 


$49.14 
6.52 

9.46 


$88.00 


Maintenance 

Interest on equip- 
ment 


21.29 
25.73 






Totals 


$54.37 


$47.89 


$39.83 


$64.71 


$76.81 


$65.12 


$135.02 







(a) Schools operated on the 1-8 basis 

(b) School operated on the 7-9 basis 



(c) School operated on the 1-12 basis 

(d) School operated on the 7-11 basis 



COSTS 
TABLE LX 



289 



Showing the per Capita Cost per Annum of Education in the 
Eighth Grade of Seven Schools in Grand Rapids 



Item 


Sigsbee 
(a) 


Hall 
(a) 


Palmer 

(a) 


Lexing- 
ton (a) 


Junior 

(b) 


Union 

(c) 


South 

id) 


Instruction 


$41.49 
11.03 

9.38 


$40 . 95 
8.69 

4.48 


$28.09 

7.28 

5.35 


$39.06 
13.86 

10.41 


$46.81 
12.41 

8.78 


$34.91 
6.52 

9.46 


$54.37 
21.29 

25 73 


Maintenance 

Interest on equip- 
ment 






Totals 


$61.90 


$54.12 


$40.72 


$63.33 


$68.00 


$50.89 


$101 39 







(a) Schools operated on the 1-8 basis (c) School operated on the 1-12 basis 

(b) School operated on the 7-9 basis (d) School operated on the 7-11 basis 

TABLE LXI 

Showing the per Capita Cost per Annum of Education in the 
Ninth Grade of Four Schools in Grand Rapids 



Item 


Junior 


Central 


Union 


South 


Instruction 


$39.36 
12.41 

8.78 


$50.05 
14.71 
19.01 


$61.61 

16.71 

9.46 


$37.19 
21 29 


Maintenance 


Interest on equipment. . . 


25.73 


Totals 


$60.55 


$83.77 


$87.78 


$84 21 







TABLE LXII 

Showing the per Capita Cost per Annum of Education in the 
Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Grades of Three Schools 
IN Grand Rapids 



Item 


Central 


Union 


South (a) 


Instruction 


$70.88 
14.71 
19.01 


$62.28 

16.71 

9.46 


$52 73 


Maintenance 


21 29 


Interest on equipment 


25.73 


Total 


$104.60 


$88.45 


$99 75 







(a) Tenth and eleventh grades only accounted for in the South School 



290 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

TABLE LXni 

Cost of carrying a Pupil through the Seventh and Eighth 
Grades of Seven Schools in Grand Rapids 

Sigsbee $116.27 Junior $144.81 

Hall 102.01 Union 116.01 

Palmer 80.55 South 236.41 

Lexington 128.04 

TABLE LXIV 

Cost of carrying a Pupil through the Seventh, Eighth, and 
Ninth Grades of Certain Schools of Grand Rapids 

Junior High $205 . 36 Hall and Central $185 . 7S 

Union High 203 . 79 Lexington and Union . . 215 . 82 

South High 320 . 62 Palmer and Central. ... 164 . 32 

Sigsbee and Central. . . 200.04 



The case of South High is hardly typical for the schools 
of Grand Rapids, inasmuch as building and equipment are 
new and expensive, and a large amount of equipment was 
purchased during 1915-16, which brings up per capita inter- 
est on equipment to nearly three times the average cost for 
the other schools. The per capita cost for instruction is also 
high at South High, largely because of the fact that high- 
salaried teachers are used in the grades more than in other 
schools, and spend more of their time in grade work than is 
warranted by the number of pupils enrolled in the grades, 
if the time is apportioned on the basis of number enrolled in 
each grade. 

The figures for the seventh and eighth grades at South 
High are not accurate if the grades are considered separately, 
but are if the grades are considered together. This is due 
to the fact that during the second sen].ester of the year 



COSTS 291 

studied there was no seventh grade and part of the year's 
time which is charged to teachers of the seventh grade 
should be charged to the eighth grade. 

These figures show that the Junior High is practically no 
more expensive than the other units of the Grand Rapids 
system. In the Junior High and South High the per capita 
cost is highest in the seventh grade and falls gradually lower 
through the eighth and ninth grades. Leaving South High 
out of consideration, the average per capita cost of carrying 
a pupil through the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades varies 
from $164.32 (the lowest figure) ^ for the Palmer and Cen- 
tral High, and $185.78 (the next lowest) for Hall and Central 
High, to $215.82 for Lexington and Union. Junior High, 
Union, and the combination of Sigsbee and Central High 
diflPer by only about B.ve dollars. In the seventh and eighth 
grades, however, the Junior High is the most expensive unit 
of the system, the exceptional South High being left out of 
consideration. 

From the standpoint of cost of instruction alone, the cost 
of carrying a pupil through the seventh, eighth, and ninth 
grades shows a wider range among the various units of 
the system than it does when maintenance and interest on 
equipment are included, as is shown by Table LXV. 

In Kalamazoo, Michigan, ^ the public schools are all ar- 
ranged on the same plan. Beginning with the third grade 

1 The Junior-High-School per capita cost for instruction alone is 14 per 
cent higher than the average per capita cost of four elementary schools 
combined with the ninth grade of the high schools. 

2 This section of the report is drawn from two studies, one by a commit- 
tee of Kalamazoo teachers, Principal J. A. Starkweather, chairman; the 
other, made for this report, by Professor C. O. Davis and a group of his 
graduate students. 



292 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

TABLE LXV 

Cost for Instruction in the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth 
Grades in Certain Schools of Grand Rapids 

Junior High $141 . 79 Hall and Central $125 . 72 

Union High 145 . 6Q Lexington and Union . . 141 . 11 

South High 179 . 56 Palmer and Central. ... 105 . 34 

Sigsbee and Central. . . 125.50 

and extending through the sixth, there is in use what is 
called the "modified Gary system," under which the pupils 
are under the charge of the regular grade teacher for half 
of the time, and for the remainder of the school day they 
are under the direction of special teachers. Beginning with 
the seventh grade, all pupils are taught under the depart- 
mental plan. 

There are three junior high schools in the city, as fol- 
lows: East Avenue, Woodward Avenue, and Portage Street 
Schools. There are three other schools which have their 
seventh and eighth grades organized like the seventh and 
eighth grades in the junior high schools, namely, Frank 
Street, Lake Street, and Vine Street Schools. Pupils in the 
seventh and eighth grades in these three schools are allowed 
all the privileges of election of studies that are found in the 
regular junior high schools, and for their ninth-grade work, 
they transfer to one of the junior high schools, or to the 
ninth grade at Central High School. It is on the basis of 
the costs in these six schools that the study was made. 

The system of junior high schools was established in 
Kalamazoo at the beginning of the school year 1914-15, 
though all the seventh and eighth grades had been con- 
ducted on the departmental plan for several years before 



COSTS 293 

this time. According to Principal Starkweather, of the 
Woodward Avenue School, the junior high school has as its 
aim the providing by various means for individual differ- 
ences among pupils, the providing of departmental teaching 
and exploratory courses, and the providing of special train- 
ing for pupils who must leave before completing the senior- 
high-school course. 

The figures are for the school year 1915-16, and the cost 
of instruction is based on the salary schedule of the junior- 
high-school teachers, making the proper division of time 
for all teachers who worked only part time in the schools in 
question. The maintenance cost per pupil was based on 
the following items: salaries of clerks and principals, jan- 
itors' salaries, supplies, reference books, fuel, apparatus, 
light and power, repair of buildings and grounds, repair of 
equipment and new equipment. The third item, interest on 
permanent investment, was added by the surveying com- 
mittee, and was arrived at by computing the interest at 
five per cent on the valuation of the buildings and grounds, 
and dividing by the average number of pupils enrolled in 
each school. The comparative costs are presented in the 
following tables. 

The high per capita costs in the East Avenue Junior High 
School are due to the fact that high-salaried teachers are 
found here in larger proportion than in the other schools. 
The total amounts paid for salaries each year in the three 
junior high schools are nearly equal, and East Avenue School 
has not so many teachers and only about half as many 
pupils as the other two schools. The lower cost of instruc- 
tion in the Vine Street School is accounted for by the fact 



S94 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



TABLE LXVI 

Per Capita Annual Costs for Pupils above the Sixth Grade 

IN Kalamazoo 





Cost of 
instruction 


Cost of 
maintenance 


Cost of 
interest 


Total 
cost 


Junior High Schools 

East Avenue 

Woodward Avenue . , 
Portage Street 

Elementary Schools 

Frank Street.. 

Lake Street 


$70.13 

47.86 
43.77 

47.55 
42.09 
28.80 


$11.84 

10.87 

9.20 

8.55 

6.62 

10.60 


$9.18 
7.28 
4.90 

2.61 
4.79 

4.85 


$91.15 
66.01 
57.87 

58.71 
53 50 


Vine Street 


44.25 







TABLE LXVII 

Per Capita Annual Cost of Instruction in Woodward Avenub 
School of Kalamazoo in all Grades below the Seventh, 
1915-16 

Sixth Grade $ 9.93 Second Grade $13.12 

Fifth Grade 11.36 First Grade 13.47 

Fourth Grade 10 . 19 Kindergarten 1 .35 

Third 7.17 



TABLE LXVIII 

Per Capita Annual Cost op Instruction by Subject in the 

Woodward Avenue School of ICalamazoo, 1915-16 



Algebra... $ 5.74 

English and penmanship 4 . 33 

Latin and German 14 . 55 

Geography 5 . 40 

Bookkeeping and busi- 
ness English 40.25 

Science and physical geo- 
graphy 7 . 54 

History and spelling. ... 3 . 98 



Arithmetic and spelling. . 

Art 

Cooking and sewing . . . . 

Manual training 

Literature 

Music 

Physical training 



3.30 
7.50 

7.73 

2.21 

.97 

2.74 



COSTS 295 

TABLE LXIX 

Per Capita Cost of Pupils in Kalamazoo School System for 
1915-16, BASED ON Instruction, Maintenance, and Opera- 
tion 

Grades I-IV , $34 .46 

Grades V-VIII 45.78 

Junior High School 58 . 00 

Central High 78.23 

that more pupils are enrolled per teacher, and as the build- 
ing is near the Central High School, pupils in the grades 
who wish to take electives usually pass to the Central High 
School classes for this extra work. It is evident that the 
school with small classes has a very high cost per pupil for 
instruction and that the school with larger classes has a 
correspondingly lower cost. The cost of maintaining the 
schools per pupil is, of course, least in the building which has 
the greatest economy in heating space, provided that the 
building has also a full quota of pupils per room. Both these 
conditions are satisfied at the Lake Street School, which has 
large classes and a comparatively new heating equipment. 
The Kalamazoo Committee made a careful study of the 
programs of the three junior high schools and of the enroll- 
ment in classes, and found that if all the pupils in certain 
elective subjects could be congregated at one central build- 
ing, there would result a saving, in teachers' salaries alone, 
of $7200, with an additional saving of $1629 in maintenance. 
If this congregation were effected, the per capita cost of the 
junior high school would be reduced to $49.28, an amount 
lower than the average per capita cost in the three elemen- 
tary schools, with no impairment of the educational pro- 



296 ' THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

gram. In fact, it would offer still further opportunities fok 
provision for individual differences. 

In New York Dr. Bachman^ showed that as then ad^ 
ministered the three intermediate schools required fewer 
rooms by 8.7 per cent, fewer teachers by 5.36 per cent, and 
less equipment in the shops, kitchens, and gymnasiums by 
19.11, 6.31, and 18.17 per cent, respectively. (Figures could 
be taken from the data of three elementary schools used, 
however, to show that they are more crowded than the 
intermediate schools and therefore cheaper.) He concludes : 

In view of these differences in requirements and hence differences 
in cost, if 20,000 seventh- and eighth- grade pupils could be brought 
into intermediate schools, the immediate saving would at the very 
least be sufficient to provide for the erection of a school building of 
thirty-nine rooms, and for the annual total cost of operating such 
a school. 

Assistant Superintendent Wheeler, of Philadelphia, ^ 
states that the instruction of ninth-grade pupils can be car- 
ried on with entire satisfaction in the new type of elementary 
buildings in that city, which cost $270 per pupil, whereas 
they are housed in high-school buildings costing $570 per 
pupil. As approximately 40 per cent of the Philadelphia 
high-school enrollment is in the ninth grade, he argues that 
the establishment of junior high schools would not only 
bring secondary education much nearer the homes of a 
larger proportion of the pupils, but would also result in a 
considerable saving to the city. Superintendent Spaulding ^ 
gives the per pupil cost in Minneapolis as $235 for ele- 
mentary schools (grades 1 to 6), $300 for junior high schools, 

^ Report on Intermediate Schools, Committee on School Inquiry, 1914. 
2 Old Penn Weekly, vol. 13, p. 1007. ^ ^ Million a Year. 



COSTS 297 

and $390 for senior high schools. These costs are for build- 
ings fully equipped. Superintendent Chandler, of Richmond, 
Virginia,^ gives the per pupil cost for the elementary school 
as $73.81 and for the junior high school as $101.19. These 
costs are for building and heating plant alone. 

Superintendent Thompson, of Boston, ^ argues that junior 
high schools will reduce costs. He writes that in Boston 

the cost of elementary education per capita is $45, and of the high 
school, $85. About 40 per cent of the high -school population is 
found in the first year. By the adoption of the intermediate-school 
plan (6-3-3), 40 per cent of the expensive high-school education 
could be brought to a per capita basis of something like $50 or ^55. 
. . . The iQtermediate school would save the present high school 
the embarrassment of receiving large masses of pupils who are 
destined to drop out either in the first or second year. It is or has 
been assumed that the greatest loss takes place at fourteen, or at 
the end of the elementary-school period, but in the city in question, 
pupils drop out in equal numbers at the ages of 14, 14 1, 15, 15^, 
and 16. At 16 the elimination movement is greatest. 

In Oakland, California, where there is one intermediate 
or junior high school, a vocational intermediate school, and 
a number of departmentalized grammar schools offering 
some secondary work, Superintendent Barker reports the 
cost from ten to one hundred per cent increased over that 
for the ordinary elementary school work. 

There is no general agreement as to the proper ratio of per 
capita expenditure for secondary and for elementary schools. 
That it varies tremendously may be seen from Table LV 
and from an examination of surveys and superintendents' 
reports. Cook found, in his General Survey of Public 

* Annual Report for 1915. 

2 Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 1, p. 457. 



298 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

High-School Education in Colorado (1914), that as the size 
of the high school increases in that State the ratio decreases. 
The following table is drawn from his study: 

TABLE LXX 

Central Tendencies of Ratio of Costs of the High SchooIi 
TO THE Cost of the Grades 

Schools with average attendance of Median ratio of cost per pupU 

Fewer than 25 2.58 

25-50 2.30 

50-100 1 . 94 

100.... 1.72 

It should be obvious that in education as in other work 
we get only what we pay for. If the junior-high-school 
prograna brings educational opportunities that are not of- 
fered in the grades as now organized, it will in all probability 
require the expenditure of more money. Almost the only 
saving possible, if educational details are unchanged, is that 
resulting from the congregation of enough pupils to permit 
of a division into full-sized classes. But there are many 
possible returns from improved conditions which, if secured, 
will make for the greatest economy. Among these may be 
mentioned retention of pupils, provisions for individual 
differences, increased interest, social direction, and the like. 

The following list of questions is presented to suggest the 
items that must be considered in preparing a budget for a 
reorganized system of schools. Many of the questions can- 
not be answered definitely in terms of money; but the entire 
list will enable one to make a general balance sheet which 
should clarify thinking as to what schools cost or should 
cost and as to the true meaning of economy: 



COSTS 299 

A. Grounds, Buildings, and Equipment 

1. How will the site compare with that of other buildings, ele- 
mentary and secondary, in per pupil cost and in location, size, 
and satisfaction? 

2. Will there be an increase or a decrease in the gross amount of 
carfare, whether paid by the public or by the pupils? Will it 
make unnecessary an expense, of money or of time, in going 
to "centers" for manual training, etc.? 

3. How will the building compare with those now housing the 
pupils of the selected grades ? Will it have more special rooms 
than elementary-school buildings and fewer than the high 
school? What will be the per capita cost of each building? 
and what the relative monetary worth of the advantages 
offered? 

4. How much cheaper will one central building be than several 
smaller ones providing for the needs of intermediate-school 
pupils? 

5. Will it afford an opportunity to use an old high-school build- 
ing, with a small outlay for remodeling? 

6. How wiU the equipment compare with that in other buildmgs 
now caring for similar pupils? 

7. Will the junior high school affect the kind and amount of 
supplies? 

8. To what extent will the congregation and segregation of pupils 
of similar age and aims result in a more constant and full use 
of building and equipment, and hence of a reduction of over- 
head expenses? 

9. To what extent will the congregation in a junior high school 
release for use by other pupils space which must otherwise 
be provided? 

10. How much per pupil is saved on janitor service, heat, and 
light by the congregation of pupils? How much is lost by the 
proposed increase in the length of the school day? 

11. To what extent can the building be constructed so as to be 
used also for continuation and evening schools? 

B. Teachers 

1. What effect will the sex and quality of teachers selected have 
on the salaries paid? 



300 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

2. What effect on salaries will there be because of an increased 
length of school day and of supervision of extra-curricula 
activities? 

3. To what extent will it reduce the cost of supervision by having 
in one building enough teachers to make it unnecessary for a 
supervisor to travel from school to school during recitation 
time? 

C Curricula and Courses of Study 

1. What is the monetary worth of the facilities afforded by the 
new type of school in the making of new courses of study? 

2. What is the monetary worth of the more accurate classifica- 
tion of pupils by means of exploratory courses for differenti- 
ated work in higher schools or in vocations? 

S. What is the monetary worth of the kind of education — 
academic, industrial, and social — provided in the junior 
high school and more especially of its effects on society? 

D. Classes 

1. To what extent will the junior high school by congregation 
and division decrease the number of classes of uneconomical 
size? 

2. To what extent because of differentiated curricula will it 
increase the number of small classes? 

3. To what extent will it afford classes of a size to be adequately 
taught with a maximum of contagious enthusiasm? 

4. To what extent will it release room which would need to be 
otherwise provided in elementary schools? 

E. Pupils 

1. Will the junior high school cause pupils to remain longer in 
school, thus 

(a) increasing the outlay for education? 

(6) increasing the value of the pupil to society? 

2. Will it as a result of interest and exploratory courses decrease 
the number of pupils who enter the high school and then drop 
out? (Provision must be made in preparing a budget for the 
maximum number of pupils expected at any one time.) 



COSTS 301 

3. Will it, by providing homogeneous groups moving at rates 
suited to their ability, insure a reduction of time for some 
pupils and a more assured steady progress for others? 

4. Will it by presenting better work of more obvious worth 
reduce the number of repeaters because of failure? 

P. Effects on Pupils and Teachers 

1. What is the monetary value of the effect of the junior high 
school on the interests and ambitions of pupils and of 
teachers? 

2. What is the effect, direct and indirect, of the junior high 
school on public interest and therefore on public support? 

Only after considering all of these questions, and perhaps 
others raised by local conditions, can one be ready to cast 
up accounts and decide with accuracy whether or not he 
should organize a junior high school. There are many an- 
swers that must be contingent on the conception that one 
has of the function of the junior high school — for example, 
what sort of building is required to house it? There are 
other questions the answers to which can only be guessed at 
— questions concerning the effect of the new type of school 
on acceleration. And, finally, there are a number of ques- 
tions which, even if they could be definitely answered, would 
need to have their answers transmuted into terms of mone- 
tary value before we could use them exactly in solving the 
problem of cost. Such a question is that concerning the 
effect on the interests of pupils. 

But perhaps an enumeration of the cost factors involved 
Will make a consideration of the problem more likely to be 
complete and a decision therefore more convincing. It is 
hoped that this discussion will so warn schoolmen that they 
may be prepared to controvert the arguments of any who in 



302 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

the discussion of an educational problem see only the amount 
of the financial outlay. For such people the easiest way to 
save money is to eliminate pupils. 

The conclusion, as usual, is that whatever is bought must 
be paid for. Here and there in matters of organization there 
may be some saving of money by means of the junior high 
school; but if the education of pupils of this intermediate 
period is to be materially improved, we must materially 
increase our school budgets. And the public when increas- 
ing the budget should demand that the proposed program 
for reform be sound and complete, and reasonably assuring 
of success under local conditions. 



CHAPTER XIII 
RESULTS 

What are the results of the organization of junior high 
schools? This natural question, which is often propounded, 
is for several reasons diflScult to answer satisfactorily. In 
the first place, the oldest of the new type of schools have 
been in existence less than a decade, a space of time too 
brief for the accomplishment of many of the possible re- 
sults; and it is seldom if ever that the internal reorganiza- 
tion is completely made at the beginning. In the second 
place, results that are found in one school may not with 
confidence be expected in others inasmuch as the name 
** junior high school " is applied to institutions of widely 
varying characteristics. In the third place, there are in re- 
organized schools many important factors that are not 
always taken into account — factors like the personality of 
the principal and teachers, the geographical location of the 
school, the nature of the educational needs of the com- 
munity, the rate of growth of the city, enforcement of the 
compulsory education laws, and the like. And finally, some 
results are too intangible to be measured by the available 
technique. But despite these diflficulties, there is some 
evidence that is of sufficient value to be considered. 

Enrollment, attendance, and retention. Of 214 junior 
high schools reporting, all but two state that reorganization 
has increased the number of pupils in the grades con- 
cerned. One hundred and sixty, or 74.8 per cent, believe 



304 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

that it has improved the regularity of pupils' attend- 
ance. 

From data in the annual report of the Commissioner of 
Education for 1917 and in Ayres' Child Accounting in the 
Public Schools (1915) the distribution of pupils by grades 
in the United States and in Cleveland has been computed 
as in Table LXXI. It must be noted that these figures do 
not take into account the normal increase in school popula- 
tion. By these percentages one may judge somewhat of the 
success of any school system in holding its pupils.^ 

TABLE LXXI 

Showing the Distribution by Percentages op Pupils in the 
United States (1917) and in Cleveland (1915) 

Grade United States Cleveland 

1 21.6 11.8 

2 13.7 11.8 

3 12.8 11.8 

4 12.3 11.8 

5 10.4 11.7 

6 8.5 11.0 

7 7.0 9.4 

8 5.9 7.4 
I 3.1 4.8 

n 2.0 3.4 

III 1.4 2.4 

IV 1.1 2.2 

99.8 99.5 

Of 238 junior high schools reporting on the matter of re- 
tention, all but two state that reorganization has resulted 
in an increased persistence of pupils. In the North Central 

^ The percentages as given for the United States are affected by the fact 
that in seven Southern States there are only seven grades in the elementary 
schools. 



RESULTS 305 

Territory, however, Davis found only 44.7 per cent of prin- 
cipals who believe that the junior high school improves 
retention. 

A number of schoolmen supplemented their answers to 
the questionnaire by statements and figures. Superinten- 
dent Huff, of Holstein, Iowa, wrote: 

More rural students are entering, and practically all students 
remain in school beyond the eighth grade, while before the junior 
high school was established at least fifty per cent dropped out 
there. 

Superintendent Harris, of Ellen ville, New York, wrote: 

I am sure that our work as now carried on is more interestiug to 
the pupils and that therefore we are holding our pupils longer. 
The following facts seem to support this belief: Last year we regis- 
tered 30 per cent more resident seventh- and eighth-grade pupils 
than we registered during the last year of our old system, and this 
in spite of the fact that the number of pupils of school age had 
decreased slightly more than ten per cent. . . . During the last two 
years that we had the grade system we lost exactly 66f per cent 
more seventh- and eighth-grade pupils, in proportion to the num- 
ber that we had, through the issuing of work certificates, than we 
have lost in the same way since the junior high school was estab- 
lished. 

Principal MacCurdy, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, wrote : 

This year is the first time we have been able to enroll and retain 
100 per cent of the pupils graduating from the elementary grades. 

These statements are representative of many that were 
received. 

Two additional encouraging facts were several times 
volunteered : first, that the reorganization frequently draws 
back into school pupils who had dropped out; and, 
second, that the holding power of the schools is increased. 



S06 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ' 

especially for boys. The average percentage of boys in the 
seventh, eighth, and ninth grades at Grand Rapids for the 
four years preceding and for the five years following the 
establishment of the junior high school is shown in Table 
LXXII: 

TABLE LXXII 

Showing the Percentage of Boys in Several Grades at 
Grand Rapids before and after the Junior High School 
was organized 



Grade 


Before 


After 


7 


46.7 


48.6 


8 


46.4 


46.8 


9 


48.9 


51.1 



Statistical data concerning the retention of pupils have 
been reported by a number of schools. Superintendent 
Foster, of Dansville, New York, wrote that, after the es- 
tablishment of his junior high school 

the elimination from the seventh and eighth years decreased 20 
per cent, and the enrollment increased 19 per cent. For the four 
years before the parochial-school pupils came for junior-high-school 
work ^ the average number entering from those schools was twelve. 
For the past two years it is 17, an increase of 41 per cent. The 
average number entering the senior high school for the past two 
years is 47 per cent greater than that entering during the preceding 
four years. 

Parks 2 reports the percentages of elimination at Cuba, 
New York, for three years before and for two years after 
the establishment of the junior high school. The data are 
shown in Table LXXIII: 

1 See page 108-9. 

2 Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 2, p. 458, 



RESULTS 307 

TABLE LXXIII 

Showing Percentages of Elimination at Cuba, New York, 

BEFORE and AFTER ESTABLISHMENT OF A JuNIOR HiGH ScHOOL 

IN 1913-14 



Year 


Grade VII 


Grade VIII 


1911 


7.1 


45.8 


1912 


17.3 


46.1 


1913 


10.0 


47.4 


1914 


4.8 


5.5 


1915 


0.0 


25.0 



At Topeka, Kansas, the percentage of the high seventh- 
grade pupils in the Sumner and Quincy Schools that reached 
the low ninth grade before the reorganization of these 
schools was 32.3; the percentage afterward was 59.5. ^ 

Johnstown, Pennsylvania, reported that during the 
two years before the establishment of the junior high 
school 70.7 and 71 per cent of the eighth-grade graduates 
entered the ninth grade, and that the next year 83 per cent 
entered. Superintendent Weet ^ reported that at Rochester 
the percentage of retention from the eighth grade to the 
ninth increased from 51 per cent to 94.5. And in Public 
School 159, New York City, " about three times as many 
girls cover the ninth grade of work as under the old plan 
which transferred them at the end of the eighth grade to 
high school." 

Stetson, in his "Statistical Study of the Junior High 
School from the Point of View of Enrollment," ^ reported 
the data in Table LXXIV, which show a marked increase 

* Superintendent's Report, 1915-16. 

2 Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 2, pp. 435-46. 

3 School Review, vol. 26, pp. 233-45. 



308 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



in the percentage of pupils retained for the ninth grade 
after the junior high school was established in 1911-12. 
The 103 percentage of retention in 1915-16 is explained 
by the application of a compulsory-education law to compel 
pupils completing parochial schools to attend the ninth 
grade. 

TABLE LXXIV 

Showing the Enrollment of the Eighth and Ninth Grades 
IN Grand Rapids, 1907-16 











Percentage 


Year 


Eighth Grade 


Year 


Ninth Grade 


retained in 
Ninth Grade 


1907-8 


946 


1908-9 


635 


67.1 


1908-9 


1,039 


1909-10 


626 


60.2 


1909-10 


1,035 


1910-11 


693 


65.0 


1910-11 


992 


1911-12 


713 


72.8 


1911 12 


1,072 


1912-13 


804 


75.0 


1912-13 


990 


1913-14 


829 


83.7 


1913-14 


1,140 


1914-15 


984 


86.3 


1914-15 


1,097 


1915-16 


1,135 


103.0 


1915-16 


1,296 


1916-17 


No record 





This table shows conclusively [Stetson states] that previous to 
the intermediate type of organization the percentage of students 
who remained in the ninth grade was steadily on the decline [?] and 
that a smaller percentage was held over. It also shows that as 
soon as the junior high schools were organized the percentage in the 
ninth grade increased steadily. 

A study made for this report by Professor. C. O. Davis 
confirms the fact that in Grand Rapids the junior high school 
holds pupils well from the eighth grade to the ninth; for 



HESULTS 309 

the one promotion period considered (February, 1916) the 
junior-high-school record is sHghtly better than that for 
six elementary schools and not quite so good as that for the 
South High School (grades VII-XII) or that for the Union 
School (grades I-XI). The data are shown in Table LXXV. 

TABLE LXXV 

Showing the Percentage of Eighth-Grade Graduates from 
Several Grand Rapids Schools entering Higher Schools, 
February, 1916 

Six elementary schools 83 . 5 

Junior High School 85 . 6 

South High School (VII-XII) 96 . 1 

Union School (I-XI) 87.0 

The fact that the junior high school draws from one dis- 
trict of more or less similar economic and social conditions, 
while the elementary schools are in various parts of the city, 
serves to render inaccurate absolute conclusions from these 
data. 

In Los Angeles the Intermediate School Principals Asso- 
ciation prepared the data in Table LXXVI, a part of which 
has been published elsewhere. This table shows that during 
four full years only 6.5 and 5.2 per cent of elimination may 
justly be charged against the intermediate schools at the 
end of the eighth and the ninth grade respectively. 

In 1917 a study ^ was made by Briggs of 402 pupils who 
had graduated from the Los Angeles intermediate schools 
in 1913 and 1914, and of 413 pupils, similar' in economic 
status, who had completed the elementary schools in 1912 
and 1913, these pupils being traced as far as possible by 
* Journal of Edticaiional Research, November, 1920. 



310 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



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duates 

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a 0. 




graduates 

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Entered privat 

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3 Grade 
Number of 
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ate schoo 
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Left the cit 

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ness, tra\ 


9 Grade 
Number of 
Transferred 


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RESULTS 311 

their records until they had left school. The study showed 
that of the pupils completing the eighth grade 65.9 per cent 
of the elementary-school group entered the high schools and 
87.2 per cent of the intermediate-school group remained for 
the ninth grade. In the tenth grade were found 55.8 and 
65.5 per cents, respectively. One reason why these percent- 
ages are considerably lower than those in Table LXXVI is 
the fact that they include only the pupils who were found 
to be actually in attendance in Los Angeles schools. 

In the study just cited it is shown that after pupils reach 
the tenth grade, whether they were prepared in elementary 
schools or in junior high schools, they persist in practically 
the same percentages through the higher grades to gradua- 
tion. 

Academic success. The academic success of pupils can- 
not be accurately known by a study of the marks assigned 
by teachers; but the testimony of 193 out of 195 principals 
that the per cent of promotion has been increased since re- 
organization is at least indicative of an adjustment of the 
junior high school to its pupils. 

Lacking satisfactory data from the application of stand- 
ardized tests, we may measure the academic success of 
junior high schools by the relative per cent of pupils passing 
imiform examinations and by theu- comparative records in 
advanced classes of the secondary school. Superintendent 
Foster, of Danville, New York, writes: 

That the junior high school has not interfered with the work in 
the three R's is shown by the fact that the percentage of students 
who have passed the Regents' preliminary examinations in the 
past two years is larger than during the preceding three years. 
The work done in the first year senior high school is of a higher 



312 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



character than it was before the inauguration of our junior hlg^ 
school department. 

It must be obvious, however, that academic success de- 
pends on many factors besides the organization of an in- 
dependent intermediate school; consequently we may ex- 
pect wide variation in results. 

The reports are not always favorable. In New York City, 
where ninth grades were added to a number of elementary 
schools without any material change in the equipment or 
teaching force, uniform examinations were given in June, 
1917, to the pupils in from two to seven intermediate 
schools and to check groups in senior high schools. The re- 
sults, as shown in Table LXXVII, are very unsatisfactory. 

TABLE LXXVII 

Showing the Percentage of Intermediate and Senior High 
School Pupils in New York Passing in Certain Subject 
Examinations 



Algebra 

Commercial 
Arithmetic 

Latin 

French 

Spanish . . . . . 
German 



Intermediate Schools 


Senior High Sc] 


Number 


Number 


Per cent 


Number 


Number 


of schools 


of pupils 


passing 


of schools 


of pupils 


7 


325 


31.0 


9 


6333 


5 


296 


34.5 




155 


5 


172 


45.9 




276 


2 


52 


57.6 




219 


4 


226 


18.5 




296 


3 


115 


60.8 




186 



Per cent 
passing 

69.5 

54.8 
63.6 
94.9 
60.8 
56.5 



It seems to me [writes Associate Superintendent John L. Tilds- 
ley ^] that this failure to do good work is due in large part to the 

^ Report of Superintendent of Schools of New Yorh N,Y., 1917= 



RESULTS 313 

attempt to conduct the intermediate schools as a money-saving 
scheme, and to the fact that teachers are doing this work who are 
not equipped for it, and to the further fact that the work has not 
been supervised by the principals and heads of departments with 
the thoroughness and ability with which this supervision is done 
in the high schools. 

Success in advanced grades, like that in uniform examina- 
tions, is dependent on more factors than the organization of 
junior high schools. Reorganization may be followed by 
an increased percentage of pupils passing their high-school 
subjects, or an improvement in the marks assigned, as at 
Cuba, New York,^ where the average mark in the ninth 
grade rose from 73.2 to 84.8; or, as will be shown, it may be 
followed by equally unsatisfactory conditions. In each in- 
stance cause and effect must be found before the junior 
high school can justly receive credit or discredit. 

Studying the records of 404 high-school pupils at Grand 
Rapids, one half of them prepared in the junior high school 
and the other half in the grammar grades, Stetson ^ found 
that the difference in the form of organization seems to have 
had very little influence on the advanced scholastic work 
in English or in mathematics. He agrees with the Grand 
Rapids School Survey that the reorganization of secondary 
education, especially as concerns the curriculum and its 
administration, has not been carried far enough. 

Studying the records of 271 graduates in 1916 of the 
Central High School of Grand Rapids, 105 of them pre- 
pared by the junior high school and the remainder by the 
conventional elementary grades, Davis found similar re- 

^ Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 2, p. 458. 
2 School Review, vol. 25, pp. 617-36. 



314 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

suits. Except in the case of English, where the advantage 
is with the conventional schools, there is no marked differ- 
ence between pupils attributable to their preparation. It 
seems clear that the type of school by which the pupils of 
Grand Rapids are prepared for higher secondary education 
is a relatively unimportant factor so far as their later 
academic records are concerned. 

In the study at Los Angeles, to which reference has been 
made,^ it was found that in the opinion of the high-school 
teachers the intermediate-school pupils who continued 
their electives were not adequately prepared. A number of 
them were after trial put back into lower classes, and only 
£2 per cent of the remainder received marks as high as in 
their preparatory schools. Probably no satisfactory articu- 
lation of work between schools is possible unless there are 
either very detailed syllabi or else objective standards for 
the measurement of results. 

The extent to which pupils continue in the high schools 
the subjects elected in intermediate schools was also studied 
at Los Angeles. The results, which are presented in Table 
LXXVIII, are far from satisfactory. Only 39.2 per cent of 
the intermediate-school electives were continued in high 
schools; and of the number continued 62.3 per cent, or 24.4 per 
cent of the original number, were continued successfully, either 
in classes of advanced or of the same grade. The percent- 
ages on the basis of the entire number who took electives 
In grades VII-IX, including those who did not enter high 
schools, would of course be much smaller. In so far as it is 
advantageous for pupils to learn early that they have little 

1 Page 309. 



RESULTS 



315 



TABLE LXXVIII 

Showing the Extent to which Lsttermediate-School Electives 

WERE CONTINUED IN LoS AnGELES HiGH ScHOOLS 



Subjects 


Number of pupils 

electing subjects 

in intermediate 

schools 


Per cent of pupils 

electing the same 

subjects in high 

schools 


Number of electives 
in same subjects 
by the pupils in 
high schools, but 

not in intermediate 
schools 


]Latin 


34 

28 
19 
95 

47 
58 

281 


35 

25 
67 
44 
28 
38 

39 


12 


German 

French 


11 
5 


Spanish 


9 


Bookkeeping. , . . 
Stenography .... 

Totals 


5 
6 

48 



or no fitness or need for certain subjects, this record may- 
be encouraging; but certainly it does not manifest that the 
intermediate schools of Los Angeles are effective in for- 
warding pupils in subjects of secondary-school rank. 

An even less satisfactory showing of results is presented 
in Tables LXXIX-LXXXI, which are drawn from an un- 
published study made in Los Angeles by Principal Robert 
A. Thompson, of the Sentous Intermediate School. Table 
LXXIX shows a surprisingly large amount of elimination 
and retardation in the elected subjects during the junior-high- 
school course. No subject holds as many as haK of its pupils 
to normal progress for three years. But the seriousness of 
the condition becomes more apparent from Table LXXX. 
This shows that of the pupils who were traced to the high 
schools (35.6 per cent of the original number) only 30 to 
45 per cent in the six subjects had made normal progress. 



316 



THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 



TABLE LXXIX 

Showing the Percentages of Intermediate-School Pupils 
IN Los Angeles carrying Elective Subjects Successfully 





(1) 


(2) 
Per cent of (1) 
completing 
High IX with 


(3) 

Per cent of (1) 


(4) 




Number of 


the normal 2 


carrying sub- 






pupils in 


units of credit. 


ject through 


Total of (2) 




Low VII, 


with mark of 


High IX, but 


and (3) 




March, 1914 


A or B, which 
is required for 
full promotion 


receiving mark 
below A or B 




French 


116 
165 


18.1 
17.0 


20.7 
26.7 


38.8 


German 


43.7 


Latin 


105 

598 


18.1 
10.6 


31.4 
16.4 


49.5 


Spanish 


27.0 


Stenography .... 


223 


8.6 


18.0 


26.6 


Bookkeeping. . . . 


198 


10.1 


21.2 


31.3 



Of these normal pupils, from 27.8 to 63.6 successfully passed 
the first year of continued work in the high school. But of 
the entire number promoted to high school only from 10 
to 27 per cent passed in the Low XI grade classes, where 
the pupils were normally expected to be. From 20 to 33.3 
per cent of all transferred pupils passed in the subjects in 
some lower class, in which they were placed because of low 
marks in the intermediate schools or because of unsatisfac- 
tory work in Low XL From to 22.9 of the pupils failed in 
high-school classes, and from 30.8 to 63.3 per cent dropped 
the subjects. The full failure in articulation between the 
lower and upper schools is not realized, however, until 
Table LXXXI is studied. This shows that in the fourth 
year after beginning the elected secondary-school subjects 



RESULTS 
TABLE LXXX 



317 



Showing the Success of Lsttermediate-School Pupils in Los 
Angeles with Elective Subjects continued in High Schools 



French 

German .... 

Latin 

Spanish. . . . 
Stenography 
Bookkeeping 



(1) 



^' 



o 



26 
40 
35 
92 
30 
30 



(2) 

7—1 '^ 
to 



42.3 
45.0 
40.0 

42.4 
40.0 
30.0 



(3) 






63.6 
27.8 
35.7 
43.6 
33.3 
33.3 




27.0 
12.5 
14.3 
18.5 
13.3 
10.0 



(5) 



S § 



H< CO 

to <!0 C 



27.0 
30.0 
20.0 
25.0 
33.3 
23.3 



(6) 



Si 

9, 



/^ 






15.4 

5.0 

22.9 

14.1 

0.0 

3.3 



(7) 



OS o 

Si, "^ 



■« Si, 

to ^— s 



30.8 
52.5 
42.9 

42.4 
53.3 
63.3 



TABLE LXXXI 
Showing the Per Cents of Intermediate School Pupils in 



Los Angeles continuing Elective 
FOR Four Years 



Subjects successfully 



French 

German 

Latin , . . 

Spanish 

Stenography. . 
Bookkeeping. . 



Pupils in 
Low VII 



116 
165 
105 
596 

223 
198 



Per cent of (1) 
successful in 
Low XI, nor- 
mal progress, 
in fourth year 

from beginning 
subject 



6.0 
3.0 
4.8 
2.8 
1.8 
1.5 



Per cent of (1) 
successful in 
classes below 
Low XI, in 
fourth year 

from beginning 
subject 



6.0 
7.3 
6.7 
3.8 
4.5 
3.5 



Total per cent 
of pupils suc- 
cessful in any 
class in fourth 
year from be- 
ginning subject 



12.0 

10.3 

11.5 

6.6 

6.3 

5.0 



318 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

only from 1.5 to 6 per cent of the pupils were continuing 
with normal progress, and from 3.5 to 7.3 per cent of them, 
though retarded, were continuing these subjects in the high 
schools three and a half years later. 

On these data Principal Thompson comments as follows : 

Spanish begins with an enrollment of 596 and just three and a 
half years later has only seventeen of these pupils left in the classes 
where they would be expected. The record of other subjects in 
the list is scarcely better. It is easy to say that there are others 
besides the seventeen . . . who are doing successful work. It is 
easy to say that many have moved from the city and have thus 
depleted the classes. It is easy to say that all of those 596 who 
took work even for one term, or for one month, obtained some 
educational value from the experience. But no matter what we 
say, the cold fact remains, and the figures are too appalling to be 
explained away. All of these conditions enumerated to explain 
the figures do exist, and are very real, and will continue to be very 
real. Can we then afford to go ahead term after term carrying 
large beginning classes through weeks of expensive instruction in 
the seventh grade, and carrying very small ninth grade classes 
that are still more expensive in order to get these few boys and 
girls ready to fit into a Low XI class in high school.'^ Are there 
not other subjects that will be far more valuable for all seventh 
grade pupils than those we are offering .f* 

These tables raise a number of grave questions which 
must be considered by all administrators who are reorganiz- 
ing curricula for junior high schools. When only from 6.6 
to 12 per cent of pupils who elect a foreign language are 
successfully carrying the subject in any class four years 
later, the conclusion seems inevitable that in the beginning 
there should be offered exploratory and revealing courses 
composed largely of material justifiable to the extent 
taken. ^ Many of the pupils eliminated from the com*ses 

1 See pages 165-174. 



RESULTS 319 

as offered doubtless had small aptitudes for the subjects 
elected in the intermediate school, and thus the high schools 
were relieved of the obligation to offer them more expensive 
instruction in these subjects later. 

The implied criticism is less of the intermediate schools 
than of the type of elementary work generally offered. The 
condition would seem relatively less bad if we knew the 
per cent of Los Angeles high-school pupils who continued 
their electives in foreign languages for four full years. Al- 
though this is not known, we may consider for the sake of 
comparison the fact that in the Central High School at 
Grand Rapids the per cent of pupils taking Latm and Ger- 
man for the fourth year, successfully or unsuccessfully, 
was only 15.6. The per cent of pupils continuing these 
languages one, two, and three years was 18.3, 52.3, and 
13.8 respectively. It was also found at Grand Rapids that 
a much larger percentage of pupils who begin their elec- 
tives in the eighth grade continue them for three years 
than do those pupils who begin them in the ninth grade. 

Interest. Whatever the statistical results of the achieve- 
ment of the pioneer junior high schools, which we must 
recognize have not fully realized the possibilities through 
reorganization, the principals believe that there have been 
an increase of interest on the part of pupils, an improved 
school spirit, and better community support. In the ques- 
tionnau-e returns £20 record their belief in an increase of 
pupil interest; 234, with two dissenting opinions, in an im- 
provement in school spirit; and 172, with one dissent, in 
better community support. Davis found that from 78.2 
to 79.9 per cent of the principals in the North Central 



320 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

Territory believe that the junior high schools have pleased 

the parents, teachers, and administrators; and that from 

61.4 to 69.6 per cent believe that they furnish better social 

and moral conditions and turn out pupils better socially 

equipped. 

From many letters volunteered by principals at Auburn, 

Maine; Berkeley and Los Angeles, California; Chelsea, 

Massachusetts; Clinton, Iowa; Dansville and Ellenville, 

New York; Hot Springs, Arkansas; Norfolk, Nebraska; 

Richmond and Tippecanoe County, Indiana; and other 

places, there is room to quote only the following: 

Our work as now carried on is more interesting to the pupils, and 
therefore we are holding them in school longer. My belief that 
the work is more iQterest,ing is supported by the statement of the 
pupils. In answer to the question whether they prefer the new 
plan and why, 90 per cent expressed a preference for the jxmior 
high school, 40 per cent giving as their reason the advantages of 
promotion by subject. Two other reasons which stood out were 
the opportunities for election of subjects and the fact that the work 
is more pleasant when there is a change of teachers from period to 
period. Not one of us, faculty or board of education, would con- 
sider for a moment going back to the old plan. (Ellenville.) 

The change to the junior high plan has had a wonderful effect. 
The introduction of new subjects and a revision of the content of 
the old with a modification in methods of teaching have greatly 
stimulated the children's interest in school work. There has been 
greater harmony between pupils and teachers, and a more friendly 
spirit has been clearly evident. Both have been happy in their 
work and much pleased with the new arrangement. The disci- 
pline has been easier, and undesirable tension has been approach- 
ing the minimum rapidly. The pupils go about their work in a 
much more business-like way and are more thoughtful and depend- 
able. They have learned to make a better use of their study 
periods, and the lessons are better prepared. With this has come 
an increased power of initiative. The first of the year it seemed 



RESULTS 321 

best to allow them more liberty of action in passing to classes and 
to the basement m order that they might have a greater chance to 
learn self-control through practice. The result has been gratify- 
ing. Ihe junior high school has put mto the nmth year an enthusi- 
asm that seemed to be lacking m former years when pupils had 
practically to repeat work they had already been over. I have 
taken pams to question both my corps of teachers and the pupils 
concernmg this new arrangement and I find the answers practi- 
caUy unanimous m its favor. No teacher wishes to go back into 
regular grade work, and the pupils express themselves as much 
pleased at the change. (Chelsea.) 

In conclusion, it must be repeated that the facts and 
opinions cited are to be considered chiefly for the schools 
furnishing them; other conditions doubtless would furnish 
different results. But in so far as these data are representa- 
tive, they show that junior high schools do tend to in- 
crease the enroUment of pupils of early adolescence, es- 
pecially of boys, to retain them longer in school, to bridge 
the gap between the elementary grades and the high school, 
to furnish better provisions for pupils of varying abilities 
and needs, and to increase the interest, school spirit, and 
community support. On the other hand, the data show that 
much yet remains to be done in the rewriting of courses of 
study and in the improvement of instruction, particularly 
in academic subjects to be continued in high schools. The 
junior high school must stiU be considered an opportunity 
rather than an achievement. 



CHAPTER XIV 
IN CONCLUSION 

The arguments for a reorganization of secondary education 
so as to provide some form of junior high school are now 
generally accepted as sound. The broad discussion and 
debate at teachers' meetings and in educational magazines 
a few years ago have given place, as a survey of programs 
and tables of contents shows, to questions concerning the 
means of securing the best reorganization of the school sys- 
tem both as a whole and in its details. 

As has been shown, the progress of the junior-high-school 
movement has been astonishingly rapid. Recommended 
by several educational commissions during two or three 
decades, it began to receive lay endorsement in 1909 and 
1910 with the vote of the Minnesota Federation of Labor 
and the Minneapolis Commercial Club, and since then it 
has been approved by an impressive number of educational 
theorists, administrators, commissions, societies, and asso- 
ciations. Of 105 reports of school surveys, 33 recommend 
the establishment of junior high schools in the locality or 
State covered by the survey; two express approval of some 
plan already in operation and similar to the junior high 
school; one is uncertain as to the need in the community 
studied, and one (Louisville, Kentucky) finds, in the face of 
strong advocacy by several clubs, that local conditions do 
not demand junior high schools. Sixty-eight of the surveys 
make no mention of reorganization. 



IN CONCLUSION 323 

The movement has had a wide range geographically and 
in the types of communities forwarding it. Practically all 
of our largest cities have established one or more junior high 
schools to test the claims made by theorists, to give princi- 
pals and teachers an opportunity to work out a program 
suitable to local needs, and to accustom the public to the 
new type of institution before proposing a city- wide reorgani- 
zation. Every repoi:t is to the effect that the success 
achieved warrants an increase in the number of junior high 
schools. 

But the movement has not been confined to the cities. 
Some States, as Vermont and New Hampshire, early pro- 
ceeded to a wide reorganization, especially of their rural and 
small urban schools, and others, as Ohio, Minnesota, and 
Indiana, have encouraged reorganization by issuing bulle- 
tins of suggestions for either six-three-three or six-six grade 
systems. 

Arguments for the junior high school concerning the psy- 
chological, sociological, educational, and vocational advan- 
tages are to a considerable extent as applicable to the small 
community as to the urban; and although the rural or semi- 
rural school seldom contains pupils enough to make any 
extensive amount of differentiation possible, reorganization 
affords other advantages. In the first place, it simplifies 
the elementary-school problem by reducing to six the num- 
ber of grades to be taught in the one-teacher school, and in 
somewhat larger communities by separating the younger 
and the older children to the advantage of both groups. 
Discipline is likely to be easier, and for the older pupils it 
will be possible ** to lengthen class recitations and accord- 



324 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ' 

ingly help the teacher to provide more and better instruc- 
tion." 1 

Beyond this it is often possible for a small community 
that cannot afford a full high school to extend its work 
somewhat, organizing the grades beyond the sixth as a 
junior high school and thus making some secondary educa- 
tion accessible to a larger number of pupils than under the 
old plan. Some communities have found it advisable to 
substitute for an inadequate four-year high school an inter- 
mediate school of such length that it could be satisfactorily 
conducted by the number of teachers and with the equip- 
ment available. 

The program for the small junior high school in Vermont, 
New Hampshire, Maine, and some other States is based 
partly on the supposed inability of a community to support 
a school of more than eight grades, and partly on a belief 
that the organization of a new type of school will facilitate 
change in courses of study, adapting the subject-matter 
better to the local needs. Rural education is only a phase 
of education in general; consequently farm-life experience 
must serve as an approach and as a medium of interpreta- 
tion rather than as a goal of fixed choice. Doubtless if the 
subject-matter of rural schools is materially modified, other 
States will find, as Vermont has done, that education of con- 
vincing worth will open unsuspected financial resources 
which will gradually extend the number of grades often 
through the eleventh or twelfth. This facilitation of edu- 
cational change, especially for the seventh and eighth grades, 

^ Foght, in Report of the United States Commissioner of Education, 
1916-18. 



IN CONCLUSION 325 

is the chief reason for the six-six organization in rural or 
semi-rural communities. 

If a community cannot support a school of twelve grades, 
the democratic alternative is that its pupils who are ready 
for advanced work shall have it made possible by an appro- 
priation from the public treasury. When it is realized that 
over 700 per cent more urban than rural pupils graduate 
from high schools, it is clear that accessibility of education is 
a prime factor in its continuance. The riu'al junior high 
school brings some secondary education, and that of a better 
type, to two thirds the population that now have poor 
advantages or none; consequently it is reasonable to expect 
a steady extension of this type of school in many of our 
States. 

The reorganization of small schools encourages rural and 
village cooperation, facilitating consolidation and setting up 
the school as the community social center. The possibilities 
in this field, as manifested especially in Vermont, Baltimore 
County, Maryland, and Minnesota, are limitless. 

Inquiry was made as to the obstacles to full and successful 
reorganization that were found in practice by jimior high 
schools. Of those reported all were the result of tradition 
or of laws determined by conditions before the new type of 
schools became an important part of our educational system. 
Of 170 schools answering the question concerning obstacles, 
twenty-five report none. Of the remaining 145, forty say 
that " lack of the right kind of teachers " was the greatest 
impediment. No information was secured from the teach- 
ers as to the adequacy of superintendents and principals. 
Other obstacles most frequently mentioned were the loca- 



S26 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

tion of the school and the lack of suitable textbooks and 
equipment. 

Laws in some States define elementary and secondary- 
schools in such ways as to make reorganization difficult. 
In some instances they also prescribe curricula, courses of 
study, and textbooks, require uniform state-wide examina- 
tions, demand reports, license teachers, and distribute funds 
on the eight-four basis. In 1920, however, according to 
letters from state departments of education and so far 
as could be ascertained from their reports, there is in thirty 
States no legal obstacle to the establishment and successful 
administration of junior high schools. In ten of the remain- 
ing eighteen States there are obstacles in the prescribed 
courses of study; in four, of textbooks; in eight, of uniform 
examinations; and in four, of the distribution of funds. But 
among the States that have statutory obstacles there are 
only three in which the junior-high-school movement has 
not already made considerable progress; the provisions of old 
laws are, for the sake of educational progress, ignored, usu- 
ally with the approval of the state department of education. 

One federal law, the Smith-Hughes Act to promote voca- 
tional education, was framed entirely for the old type of 
organization; and although it is often desirable for certain 
boys and girls to receive in the seventh and eighth grades 
some vocational training, junior high schools cannot furnish 
it with the subvention of the National Government, nor can 
they receive financial aid for normal pupils in the ninth 
grade without sacrificing much of the educational program 
which has come to be considered fundamental for most 
early adolescents. 



IN CONCLUSION 327 

The junior high school is accepted in theory, and its pos- 
sibilities have proved so alluring that the movement for 
reorganization is well under way in both urban and rural 
districts. The physical redistribution of the grades seems 
assured; but if, having accomplished that, schoolmen rest 
content, they will have missed the one great educational 
opportunity of their generation for real educational reform. 
There is a demand for purposes so clear and so cogent that 
they will result in new curricula, new courses of study, 
new methods of teaching, and new social relationships — in 
short, in a new spirit which will make the intermediate years 
not only worth while in themselves, but also an intelligent 
inspiration for every child to continue as long as profitable 
the education for which he is by inheritance best fitted. In 
its essence the junior high school is a device of democracy 
whereby nurture may cooperate with nature to secure the 
best results possible for each individual adolescent as well 
as for society at large. 



■t. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Selected on the basis of merit and accessibility 

Abelson, Joseph. A Study of the Junior High School Project. 
Education, 37: 1-19, September, 1916. 

A discussion of the junior high school: definition, advantages, illus- 
trations from letters by superintendents. 

Bagley, W. C. The "Six-Six " Plan. School and Home Education, 
34: 3-5, September, 1914. 

An editorial opinion of the advantages and the disadvantages of the 
"six-six" plan. 

Social solidarity, essential to a democracy, the chief aim of elementary 
school: differentiation at beginning of seventh grade premature; em- 
phasizes individuality in democracy. 

The "Six-Six" Once More. School and Home Education, 34: 

79-80, November, 1914. 

Differentiation should be marked in tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades, 
not entirely absent in ninth grade, and even recognized in seventh and 
eighth grades to extent of providing differentiated courses for boys in 
Manual Training and for girls in Household Arts and for both in certain 
other prevocational fields. 

Principles Justifying Common Elements in the School Pro- 



gram. School and Home Education, 34: 119, December, 1914. 

There should be common elements carefully determined, followed by 
greater opportunity for needed adjustment to individuals, groups, and 
localities. 

— The "Six-Six" Plan and Early Differentiation. School and 



Home Education, 34: 239-41, March, 1915. 

The writer thinks that the six-and-six plan is undemocratic in its ten- 
dencies. 

The six-six plan limits common elements to mere tools of knowledge. 
Constant application of theory of early differentiation "spells social 
stratification and a permanent proletariat." 

— The Minimum Essentials versus the Differentiated Course 



S30 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

of Study in the Seventh and Eighth Grades. Proceedings, Na- 
tional Education Association, 1916, pp. 958-65. j 

Differentiation should be based on common elements carefully se- 
lected and rigorously tested as the core of every seventh- and eighth- 
grade curriculum. 

Bagley, W. C, and Judd, C. H. Enlarging the American Elemen- 
tary School. School Review, 26: 313-23, May, 1918. 

Two fundamental and complementary principles of democracy — op- 
portunity and obligation — should be reflected at every point in any 
organization. (See summary on pages 87-89, infra.) 

Baker, James H. Economy of Time in Education. Report of 
the Committee of the National Council of Education. United 
States Bureau of Education. Bulletin no. 38. 1913. 

Argues for a six-year elementary school followed by, six years of sec- 
ondary education. 

Barker, A. C. The Intermediate School or Junior High School. 
Proceedings, National Education Association, 1917, pp. 266-71. 

An exposition of the reorganization of the seventh- and eighth-grade 
work in the elementary schools of Oakland, California, on intermediate 
school principles, treating especially curriculum, departmental teaching, 
teachers, and courses of study. 

Bennett, G. Vernon. The Junior High School. Baltimore, 
Warwick & York, Inc., 1919. 224 pp. 12. 

Treats the junior high school (1) as an educational movement, dis- 
cussing the causes for its birth, its history, the objections raised to it, 
and its effect on the elementary school; (2) as an institution, considering 
the curriculum, courses of study, preparation, selection and organiza- 
tion of faculties, problems of teaching, administration, relation to the 
senior high school, and an ideal environment. 

BiNGAMAN, C. C. A Report on the Junior High School of the United 
States for Use as Reference in Organizing such Schools . . . 
(Goldfield, Iowa), 1916. 67 pp. 4. (Typewritten.) 

A summary of this report appeared in Educational Administration and 
Supervision for January, 1917, under the title "The Remarkable Develop- 
ment of the Junior High School." 

A report of the intermediate and junior high schools in the United 
States compiled from answers to a questionnaire listing 280 schools by 
States and giving the plan of organization, its advantages, and courses 
; of study. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 831 

BoNSER, Freperick C. Democratizing Secondary Education by 
the Six-Three-Three Plan. Educational Administration and Su- 
pervision, 1: 567-72, November, 1915. 

Argues for the junior high school and gradual differentiation; proposes 
program of studies. 

Briggs, Thomas H. The Junior High School. In United 
States Bureau of Education, Report of the Commissioner ^ 1914, 
vol. 1, pp. 135-57. Washington, Government Printing Office, 
1914. 

A treatment of the junior-high-school movement under the following 
headings: a. Dissatisfaction with work done by the eight-four plan; 6. 
The name and definition for the new organization; c. Approximations in 
the upper grades; d. Advantages claimed for junior high school; e. Ob- 
stacles to its organization; /. Junior high schools and their curricula in 
1914. 

• Possibilities of the Junior High School. In New York (State) 

University Convocation Proceedings, 1916, pp. 92-103. Also in 
Education^ 37: 279-89, January, 1917. 

Emphasize necessity of clear purpose; defined the junior high school, 
distinguishing the urban and the rural, as "an opportunity more easily 
to break with tradition, through congregation and segregation to form 
groups homogeneous for similar training, to secure the true function of 
the earlier stages of secondary education, the exploration, on the one 
hand, of the interests, the aptitudes, and the capacities of the pupils, and, 
on the other hand, the exploration for them of the possibilities in each 
of the great fields of learning." 

• What is a Junior High School? Educational Administration 



and Supervision, 5: 283-301, September, 1919. 

The formation of a tentative definition by securing the composite 
opinion of competent judges, after having submitted to them a collation 
of all published definitions and requesting them to indicate which are 
essential and which are highly desirable, even though not essential. 

■ — A Composite Definition of the Junior High School. Educa- 
tional Administration and Supervision, 6 : 181 &. 

A collation of definitions of the junior high school by sixty-eight 
schoolmen and committees. 

— A Study of Comparative Results in Intermediate and Ele- 



mentary Schools of Los Angeles. Journal of Educational Re- 
search, November, 1920. 



S32 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Beown, H. E. a Plan for the Reorganization of the American 

Secondary Schools. School Review, 22: 289-301, May, 1914. 

Growth of the secondary school; introduction of departmental teaching 
in the seventh and eighth grades; a demand for the adoption of a system 
in keeping with the psychological needs of the growing child; success of 
six-six plan; advantages of the junior college; recommendation for sav- 
ing time by recasting secondary school curriculum. 

Bunker, F. F. Better Estimation of the Public-School System. 
Educational Review, 47: 249-68, March, 1914. 

Statement of the plan for the reorganization of the school system at 
Berkeley, California; advantages and disadvantages of the six-three- 
three plan; overcoming obstacles in its establishment. 

Reorganization of the Public-School System. Washington, 

Government Prmting Office, 1916. 186 pp. 8. (U.S. Bureau 
of Education. Bulletin no. 8. 1916.) 

Chapman, Ira T. Obstacles to be encountered in the Establish- 
ment of the Junior High School. Journal of Education, 83 : 537- 
41, May 18, 1916. 

Enumerates obstacles met in the community and in administration. 

Childs, Hubert G. An Investigation of Certain Phases of the Re- 
organization Movement in the Grammar Grades of Indiana Public 
Schools, 187 pp. Fort Wayne Printing Company, 1918. 

Extent of the movement in Indiana, aims, features of reorganization 
actually in use, features of practice in departmental schools, comparative 
measures of results. 

Coffman, L. D. The Minimum Essentials versus the Differen- 
tiated Course of Study in the Seventh and Eighth Grades. Pro- 
ceedings, National Education Association, 1916, pp. 953-58. 

Says that because of the obligations of the school to social welfare 
and national integrity, it must provide a curriculum of minimum essen- 
tials — "all that knowledge of a non-technical nature with which every 
well-informed and reasonably well-adjusted citizen in an American state 
is equipped," to which is added "ideals, attitudes, appreciations, preju- 
dices, and contempts," etc. — presented by varied methods adapted to 
the capacities of pupils. 

Cox, P. W. L. The Solvay Junior High School. Educational 
Administration and Supervision, 1: 619-22, November, 1915. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 833 



V 



An account of the Solvay, New York, junior high school, with enu- 
meration of the effects of such a school on other units in the educa- 
tional system. 

The Junior High School; Its Purposes and How they may 



be Realized. American Education, 19: 337-43, February, 1916. 
After citing purposes, emphasizes four: to provide better for individual 
differences, to make easier transition to higher schools, to decrease elimi- 
nation, and to furnish opportunity for reform. 

Readjustment of the Solvay Schools. Educational Adminis- 



tration and Supervision, 2: 605-24, December, 1916. 

Discussion of grading, the schools and the foreign born, socialized ele- 
mentary school, the junior high school, readjustment year, the senior 
high school. 

— Junior High Schools. Recommendations of the Commission 



on Unit Courses and Curricula. In Proceedings, North Central 
Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, 1918, pp. 22-27, 

An attempt at standardization of junior high schools — leaving room 
for variations to suit local needs. 

— School Review, 26: 541-44, September, 1918. 



Criticism of Bagley and Judd in omitting needs of retarded children 
from points they held in common; plea for consideration of average 
children. 

The Ben Blewett Junior High School: An Experiment in 



Democracy. School Review, 27: 345-59, May, 1919. 
Exposition of the work of a St. Louis junior high school. 

Davis, C. O. Principles and Plans for Reorganizing Secondary 
Education. In High School Education, ed. by C. H. Johnston. 
New York, Chas. Scribner's Sons, 1912, pp. 67-105. 

Six-and-six plan discussed on pages 73-86. 

Indictment of eight-four organization and argument for the junior 
high school. 

The Subject-Matter and Administration of the Six-Three- 



. Three Plan of Secondary Schools. Ann Arbor, Mich., The Uni- 
versity, 1915. 35 pp. 9. (University of Michigan. University 
Bulletin, n.s. vol. 17, no. 9, September, 1915.) 

Ten essentials of a junior high school; suggested curricula. 



834 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Junior High Schools in the North Central Association Terri- 



tory. School Review, 26: 324-36, May, 1918. 

Report of 293 junior-high-school questionnaire returns, listed by 
seventeen States, on thirty-nine points. 

Deffenbaugh, W. S. Reorganization. In United States Bu- 
reau of Education. Report of the Commissioner, 1915, vol. 1, 
pp. 60-64. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1915. 

Discussion of the junior-high-school movement to date, with exposi- 
tion of plans used in several places. 

Denver, Colorado. Junior High Schools of Denver. Elemen- 
tary School Journal, 18: 164-66, November, 1917. 
Program of studies for Denver junior high schools. 

Douglass, Aubrey Augustus. The Present Status of the Junior 
High School. Pedagogical Seminary, 22: 253-74, June, 1915. 
Bibliography: p. 274. Also separately reprinted. 

Gives a list of the cities having junior or intermediate schools, and 
then discusses the following aspects of the subject: Grades found in 
junior high school. Entrance requirements. Enrollment figures, Courses 
of study. Features of organization. Action of colleges and universities, 
and Weak points. 

The Junior High School. Bloomington, 111., The Public 

School Publishing Company, 1916. 157 pp. 8. (National So- 
ciety for the Study of Education. Fifteenth Yearbook. Part 
III.) 

Contents: I. Features of readjustment. II. Physiological and psy- 
chological characteristics of adolescence. III. The curriculum. IV. 
Problems of administration and supervision. Bibliography. 

Foster, J. M. Junior High School in Villages. Education, 37: 
495-503, April, 1917. 

Quotes definition and some statistics, and describes what is being done 
in the Dansville, New York, junior high school. 

Francis, John H. A Reorganization of Our School System. 
Proceedings, National Education Association, 1912, pp. 368-76. 
"Advantages of the Intermediate school as worked out in Los 
Angeles." 

FuLLERTON, C. H. Columbus Junior High School. Columbus, 
Ohio, 1912, 24 pp. Reprinted as monograph. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 335 

Thirty -Ninth Annual Report of the Public Schools of Columbus, 
Ohio (1912), pp. 169-92. 

A report of the plan and results of the junior high school in Columbus 
and other places; arguments for and against the junior high school; 
ciuricula; discussion of the value of departmental teaching in seventh 
and eighth grades. 

Giles, J. T. The Effect upon the First Six Grades of the Junior- 
Senior High-School Reorganization. Educational Administra- 
tion and Supervision, 3: 269-74, May, 1917. 

So far as discipline, supervision, elimination, and curriculum are con- 
cerned, the administration of the schools is much simplified when the 
seventh and eighth grades are not present, according to the views of 
principals and teachers. 

Glass, J. M. Results of the First Year's Work at Washington 
Junior High School, Rochester, New York. In New York (State) 
University Convocation Proceedings, 1916, pp. 105-24. 

An advantage in administration and of much benefit to pupils; mor- 
tality of ninth grade lessened. 

Gosling, Thomas Warrington. Educational Reconstruction in 
the Junior High School. Educational Review, 57: 376-86, May, 
1919.. 

Recital of the defects of our educational system as brought out by the 
World War; advantages of the junior high school in remedying conditions. 

The Selection and the Training of Teachers for Junior High 

Schools. Eighteenth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study 
qf Education. Part i, pp. 166-89. 

Qualities and training necessary for successful junior-high-school teach- 
ers; courses ojffered for them by colleges and normal schools. 

Grand Rapids, Mich., Board of Education. The Junior High 
Schools. In its School Survey, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1916 
{Grand Rapids, Mich., 1916), pp. 228-53. 

A study by C. O. Davis of the junior high school in the Grand Rapids 
organization. 

Hanus, Paul H. A Six-Year High-School Programme. In his 
A Modem School, pp. 99-109. New York and London, The 
Jdacmillaa Company, 1904. 

Ih ordw to provide more elemeatary sebool pupils wrth equal oppor- 



336 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

tunities to enjoy the advantages of high schools, their teachers, and 
equipment, it is suggested that the elementary school be limited to six 
years devoted solely to the school arts, and that in the seventh and eighth 
grades various kinds of technical training be given, as well as some gen- 
eral culture to those pupils obliged soon to leave school. 

Hill, Clyde M. The Junior High School in Vermont. In New 
York {State) University Convocation Proceedings, 1916, pp. 
124-35. 

An exposition of the junior high schools in small Vermont communi- 
ties, especially of their adaptation to local needs. 

Hillegas, Milo B. The Organization of Junior High Schools in 
Small Communities. Teachers College Record, 19; 336-44, 
September, 1918. 

Shows how the junior high school meets the demands of the smaller 
communities of Vermont. 

HoLLisTER, H. A. The Junior High School. School and Home 
Education, 35: 117-20, December, 1915. 

On the basis of observation, writer sees three types of junior high 
schools, one of which offers the best solution of the particular problem 
which it is intended to solve that has thus far appeared. 

Hood, William R. Junior and Senior High Schools. In United 
States Bureau of Education, Report of the Commissioner, 1912, 
vol. 1, pp. 153-56. Washington, Government Printing Office, 
1913. 

Discussion of junior-high-school movement to date; questionnaire 
returns as to practice. 

Horn, P. W. The Junior High School in Houston, Texas. Ele- 
mentary School Journal, 16: 91-95, October, 1915. 
Exposition, definition, and argument. 

Hough, W. R. Advantages of the Double-Six Organization. School 
Review, 27: 377-84, May, 1919. 

Advantages of the six-six organization, as at Oakland City, Indiana, 
especially for small communities. 

Hudson, Ohio. Junior High School at Hudson, Ohio. Elemen- 
tary School Journal, 17: 466-67, March, 1917. 

In the junior high school in a small system, a few electives are made 
possible by alternating certain courses in two successive years. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 337 

Hughes, J. F. The Essential Features of the Chanute Junior- 
Senior High-School Plan and its Tangible Results. Educational 
Administration and Supervision, 1: 617-19, October, 1915. 

Inglis, Alexander. Principles of Secondary Education. Boston, 
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1918. 

General treatment, curriculum organization, place in the school sys- 
tem, comprehensive versus special type, instruction and supervised study 

^ diagnosis and guidance. ' 



7^1 ^^'^^'''' ^'^^ School. Provisions for its Organization 

and Efficient Administration. Journal of Education, 84 • 595-97 
December 14, 1916. ' 

Condensed summary of the place of the junior high school in the 
school system, the dominant characteristics, and the principles growing 
out of these characteristics. 

— A Fundamental Problem in the Reorganization of the High 
School. School Review. 23: 807-18, May, 1915. 

Adolescence is variable as to time of onset and is gradual rather than 
saltatory. 



The Junior High School. Some Prmciples Affecting its 

Organization and Administration. Harvard Teachers' Associa- 
tion Leaflet, 2: 1-9, October, 1916. 

^ Discusses (1) principles arising out of the nature of the pupils; (2) prin- 
ciples arising out of social demands; (3) principles arising out of the means 
available. 

Johnston, C. H. Movement toward the Reorganization of 
Secondary Education. Educational Administration and Super- 
vision, 1: 165-72, March, 1915. 

Many arguments presented for and against rearrangement of the six 
upper grades; no evidence that the experimenters would be willing to 
return to the old system. 

Junior High-School Admmistration. Educational Adminis- 
tration and Supervision, 2: 71-86, February, 1916. 

Enumeration of a large number of administrative and educational 
problems, with brief comment. 



— The Junior High School. In Proceedings, National Education 
Association, 1916, pp. 145-51. (Same article in Educational Ad- 
ministration and Supervision, 2: 413-24, July, 1916.) 

Sanctions by approval of the junior high school; definition and dis- 
cussion. 



S38 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

What is Curriculum Differentiation? Educational Adminis- 



tration and Supervision, 2: 49-57, January, 1916. 

Imaginary colloquy between representatives of various educational 
theories as to curriculum differentiation. 

Jones, Arthur J. The Junior High School. School Review, 26: 
110-23, February, 1918. 

Says junior high school is only one of several plans for providing for 
individual pupils' needs, there is need of clear vision, and gives a list 
of features considered essential. 

JuDD, Charles H. The Junior High School. School Review, 23: 
25-33, January, 1915. 

Argues for a real, not a nominal, reorganization and proposes plans for 
broader educational opportunities for pupils. 

■ The Junior High School. School Review, 24 : 249-60, April, 

1916. Also in Proceedings, National Education Association, 1916. 

A plea for the junior high school; says that it holds children in the 
schools, equipping them for life in accordance with the laws of their 
natures. 

Junior High Schools. Educator Journal, 15: 237-39, January, 
1915; Elementary School Journal, 17: 292-94, January, 1917; 
Journal of Education, 82: 342-47, 352-53, October 14, 1915. 

A symposium, giving the views of superintendents and high-school 
teachers, Messrs. Hood, Horn, Loper, Mott, Smith, Whitney, and Wood, 
on the junior-high-school proposition. 

Kandel, I. L. The Junior High School in European Systems. 
Educational Review, 58: 303-27, November, 1919. 

An exposition of tendencies in intermediate-school education in Ger- 
many, France, and England. 

Educational Tendencies in Germany. School and Society, 

4:27-31, July 1, 1916. 
Educational reform proposed by the German republicans. 

Kelly, F. J. The General or Composite Industrial School in the 
City of less than Twenty-Five Thousand. School and Society, 
8: 721-26, December 21, 1918. 

Discusses industrial program as it concerns the junior-senior high- 
school organization, with special reference to the limitations and aids of 
the Smith-Hughes Law. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 339 

Koos, Leonard V. The Junior High School. New York, Har- 
court, Brace & Howe, 1920. 

The movement for reorganization; peculiar tendencies of the junior 
high school; tests of the organization; programs of study; other features 
of reorganization; a standard junior high school. 

Lewis, E. E. Standards of Measuring Junior High Schools. Iowa 
City, University of Iowa, 1916. Extension Division Bulletin 
no. 25, 31 pp. 8. 

Ten standards selected by the author as essential to junior high 
schools; discussion; and short bibliography. 

Lull, Herbert G. The Junior-High-School Curriculum. School 
Review, 26: 12-14, January, 1918. 

Recommends certain subjects as constants and electives; gives typical 
curriculum. 

Lyman, R. L. The Washington Junior High School, Rochester, 
New York. School Review, 28: 178-204, March, 1920. 

An expository article treating the curricula, vocational instruction, 
vocational guidance, study-coach organization, and the democratic or- 
ganization of the student body. 

The Ben Blewett Junior High School. School Review, 28: 

26-40, 97-111, January and February, 1920. 

An expository article treating the articulation with lower and higher 
schools, homogeneous groupings, pupil advisers, provisions for acceler- 
ating progress, faculty organization, student government, the curricula, 
social studies, educational projects and vocational guidance; English, 
general science, mathematics, art, music, practical arts, socialized recita- 
tion, home study and supervised study, organized play and athletics, 
clubs, cost. 

Mangum, Vernon L. Some Junior-High-School Facts drawn 
from Two Years of the Six-and-Six plan at Macomb, Illinois. 
Elementary School Journal, 18: 598-617, April, 1918. 

Comparative figures on retardation, elimination, cost, and other re- 
sults. 

McCartney, L. Junior High School; A Description of the Local 
Situation in Hannibal, Missouri. School Review, 25: 652-58, 
November, 1917. 

Massachusetts. High School Masters' Club. Report of 



S40 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Committee on the Junior High School . . . March 17, 1917. 
Boston, D. C. Heath & Co., 1917. 43 pp. 

A report, giving an historical statement of the movement, its extent, 
a tabulation of answers to a questionnaire, and the advantages and dis- 
advantages of the junior high school. Also programs of studies used in 
several schools in the United States, France, and Germany, with a pro- 
gram recommended by the committee with suggestions in general on 
teachers and methods; bibliography. 

Minnesota. State High School Board. The Junior-High- 
School Problem. A report prepared for the State High-School 
Board by E. M. Philips and C. H. Barnes. May 15, 1916. 
25 pp. 8. (Bulletm no. 59.) 

A survey of movement giving some typical redirected courses, advan- 
tages and disadvantages of the junior high school, and opinions of vari- 
ous educators, parents, and pupils. 

Report of Committee on Elementary Course of Study of 

Minnesota Educational Association on Elimination of Subject- 
Matter in Arithmetic, American History, Composition, English 
Grammar, Geography, and Reading. Minnesota State Depart- 
ment of Education, Bulletin no. 51. March, 1914. 

Missouri State Teachers' Association. Report of the Com- 
mittee on the Junior-High-School Plan. Bulletin, Missouri 
State Teachers' Association, 2: 167-79, January, 1916. 

A general summary of reports and opinions of schoolmen and commit- 
tees giving arguments for and against the junior high school; two typical 
junior-high-school curricula. 

Morrison, Gilbert B. Third Report of the National Education 
Association Committee on Six- Year Course of Study. In its 
Journal of Proceedings and Addresses, 1909, pp. 498-503. 

Personal reports from the city superintendents show the economy of 
the six-six plan : there is a general impression that the differentiation of 
pupils' work should begin at the end of the sixth grade. 

National Education Association. Report of the Committee 
on an Equal Division of the Twelve Years in the Public Schools 
between the District and High Schools. In its Journal of 
Proceedings and Addresses, 1907, pp. 705-10. 

Arguments for the six-six organization summarized as pedagogic and 
economic. 



,Jl 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 341 

— — Report of the Committee on Six- Year Course of Study. In 
its Journal of Proceedings and Addresses, 1908, pp. 625-28. 

Brief report. Points out that the Committee of Ten as early as 1893 
recognized the need of a change from the eight-four system; gives a synop- 
sis of the report of committee on six-year courses of high-school study; 
endeavors to show what should be expected of pupils at the end of the 
sixth school year; and suggests a rather narrow list of studies for pupils of 
seventh and eighth grades. 

• National Council of Education. Junior High Schools. 

In its Report of the Committee on Economy of Time in Edu- 
cation, pp. 25-27. Washington, Government Printing Office, 
1913. (United States Bureau of Education, Bulletm no. 38. 
1913.) 

Argument for the three-three organization of high schools: from ages 
twelve to fifteen a point of articulation is reached for vocational schools 
which supplement liberal education between the industrial trades at one 
extreme and the professions at the other. 

New Hampshire. Department of Public Instruction. Di- 
vision on Secondary Schools. Junior-High-School Re- 
organization. (Concord, New Hampshire, 1916.) 7 pp. 8. 
(Circular no. 2.) 

^ Basis of reorganization: (1) the new elementary-school program de- 
signed to shorten period of time in school; (2) the pushing downward 
into junior high school of secondary school subjects. 

Newlon, Jesse H. The Need of a Scientific Curriculum Policy 
for Junior and Senior High Schools. Educational Administra^ 
tirni and Supervision, 3: 253-68, May, 1917. 

Traces historical development of secondary-school curricula; rec- 
ommends principles of procedure. 

North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary 
Schools. Digest of the responses to the questionnaire on the 
Junior High School (or intermediate school). In its Proceedings, 
1916, pp. 174-92. 

Investigation of administration problems now being faced by those 
whose school systems are already reorganized on some other than the 
eight-four plan; on basis of investigation certain tentative recommenda- 
tions have been made that may be helpful at present time. 



342 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Ohio. A Manual for Junior High Schools, prepared by Inspec- 
tors Oliver and Landsittel. 1917. 

Function of the junior high school, standards, program of studies, 
teachers, cautions. 

Palmer, J. T. The Social Opportunities of the Intermediate or 
Junior High SchooL Journal of Education, 85 ; 43£-33, April, 
1917. 

A plea for recognition of natural leadership and ihe spirit of followhig 
one's chosen leader; as applied to civU government, assemJaly exersl^es, 
orchestra, athletics, and individual projects. v 

Peaese, C. G. Negative in Debate with C. H. Judd. Proceed' 
ingsy National Education Association, 1916, pp. 917-25. 

Presents the arguments against the junior-high-school organization. 

Philips, D. E. Decalogue of the Junior High School. School Re- 
view, 27: 161-71, March, 1919. 

Ten demands to which the junior high school should conform: 1. Elec- 
tive curricula; 2. Promotion by subject; 3. Expansion of curriculum: 
4. Wider practical arts program; 5. Scientific vocational guidance; 
6. Departmental teaching; 7. Supervised study; 8. Adjustment of 
senior- to junior-high-school program; 9. Training of si)ecial teachers; 
10. Inspire to further effort. 

Roberts, John S. Intermediate Schools or Junior High Schools. 
Bulletin of High Points in the work of the high schools of New 
York City, 1 : 3-5, February, 1919. 

The purpose of the junior high school, its advantages, and the atti- 
tude of high schools toward it. 

Robinson, Edwaed Van Dyke. The Reorganisation of the 
Grades and the High School. School Review, 20: 665-88, De- 
cember, 1912. 

Cites the experience of various communities which have tried differ- 
ent plans, such as the ten-and-two plan, six-and-six plan, eight-one-and- 
three plan, etc. ; summarizes arguments for the junior high school. 

RoREM, S. O. Measuring East Junior High School of Sioux City, 
Iowa. School Review, 27: 44-55, January, 1919. 

Discussion of admission, classification, promotion, curricula, instruc- 
tion, teachers, management, and housing. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 343 

Russell, W. F. Economy of Time in Secondary Education. Ed- 
ucational Review, 49: 20-36, January, 1915. 

Gives function of high school and shows waste of American system of 
secondary education, Compares German and French secondary schools 
with American showing where the latter are inferior and how the strong 
points of the foreign schools can be adapted to the advantage of the 
American schools "through mechanical administration, articulation of 
the course of study, introduction of more efficient teachers and methods, 
and attention to actual uses in the world at large." 

ScoFiELD, F. A. The Junior High School at McMinnville, Oregon. 
American School Board Journal, 50: 11-13, 65, March, 1915. 

Gives an outline of a working plan, and its advantages over the old 
grade method, especiailly in a small city; curricula; repeaters; student ac- 
tivities and discipline. 

The Function of the Intermediate School or the Junior 



High School. Journal of Education, 79: 429-31, April 16, 1914. 
Need for reorganization of elementary and secondary schools; dif- 
ferent plans for reorganization; aims of the junior high school; reasons 
that have actuated different cities in forming junior high school; details 
of curriculum largely local problem. 

SiMMONDS, F. W. The Six- Year High School of Lewiston, Idaho: 
Program of Studies. Educational Administration and Supervi- 
sion, 2: 107-12, February, 1916. 

Credit for subsidiary work; home reports; teacher cost per pupil, as 
well as total cost per pupil decreased after organization of junior high 
school. 

Snavely, GuyE. The Junior High School and the College. Edu- 
cational Review, 52: 40-49, June, 1916. 

Advocates adapting the curriculums of the junior and senior high 
schools so that two years would be sufficient for the normal student now 
requiring three to complete the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. 

Snedden, D. Six- Year High-School Course. Educational Re- 
view, 26: 525-29, December, 1903. 

A suggested plan for the introduction of early election of courses in- 
volving little disturbance either in school machinery or of public opinion. 

The Minimum Essentials versus the Differentiated Course of 

Study. In Proceedings, National Education Association, 1916, 



S4.4 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

pp. 965-76. (Also in Edticational Administration and Supervi* 
sion, 2: 219-34, April, 1916.) 

Education for children from twelve to fourteen years of age should 
continue general education; no vocational education should be offered; 
vocational guidance and elective systems are very desirable; central 
schools should be established for this group. 

Objectives, curriculum (alpha and beta) varying educational needs, 
and arguments for and against the elective system for ages twelve to 
fourteen. 

The Six- Year Course of Study. In Principles of Secondary 



Education, ed. by Paul Monroe. New York, The Macmillan 
Company, 1914, pp. 226-29. 

Historical reasons for and defects of eight-four plan, objections by the 
public to the six-year high school, development of the intermediate school, 
and possible courses for the intermediate school. 

— Peculiar Psychological Conditions and Social Needs of the 



Seventh and Eighth Grades. In Proceedings y National Educa- 
tion Association, 1916, pp. 398-403. 

Pros and cons for the junior high school from the standpoint of psy- 
chological conditions and social needs. 

The Intermediate High School. In his Problems of Second- 



ary Education. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1917, 
pp. 318-30. 

Discussion of differentiated courses of study, enrichment of the cur- 
riculum, training and education of high-school teachers and adminis- 
trative modifications necessary for the junior high school. 

Stacy, C. R. Tentative Standards for Junior-High-School Ad- 
ministration. American School Board Journal, 55: 19-20, Au- 
gust, 1917. 

Dealing with these factors in the administration of the junior high 
school: 1. Names used; 2. Arrangement of junior high schools; 3. Hous- 
ing; 4. Location and equipment; 5. Number and length of daily sessions; 
6. Length of recitation period; 7. Method of class changes; 8. Promo- 
tions; 9. Use of same instructors in both junior and senior high schools; 
10. Preparation and salaries of teachers ; 11. Supervision of instruction. 

' The Training of Teachers for Intermediate Schools. Edu- 
cational Administration and Supervision, 2: 448-55, July, 1916. 

States what the State Normal School at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 345 

purposed to do in preparing teachers for the junior high school, aiming 
to give them a real professional equipment. 

The Junior-High-School Movement in Massachusetts. Edu- 



cational Administration and Supervision, 3: 343-50, June, 1917 
In part from the Eighteenth Annual Report of the Massachu- 
setts State Board of Education, 1915-16. 

An explanation of what is being done in several Massachusetts towns 
to further the cause of the junior high school; the author also explains the 
reasons for the modification of the course of study at the Bridgewater 
Normal School. 

Stetson, Paul C. The Junior High School. The Next Step 
Forward in Education. American School Board Journal 47- 
9-11, 54, December, 1913. 

Gives a visualization of what this new type of school is designed to 
be, settmg forth what ideals our education should stand for; tells what 
is bemg done in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and outlines in some detail the 
various factors of the Grand Rapids scheme which seem especially note- 
worthy. 

Statistical Study of the Scholastic Records of 404 Junior 

and Non-Junior High-School Students. School Review, 25 • 617- 
36, November, 1917. 

A statistical study of two groups (comprising 404) of students gradu- 
ating in 1916 from the Grand Rapids high school. One group had had the 
privileges of the junior high school, the other had not. Yet a compari- 
son of their respective abilities in English and Mathematics shows the 
differences to be negligible. Since this new type of organization is being 
maintained at a greatly increased cost. Stetson naturally raises the 
question as to its real value. He attributes this parallelism of achieve- 
ment in the two groups to the fact that the curriculum in Grand Rap- 
ids had remained practically the same, and justifies the added expense 
of the junior high school on the basis of the intangible results which it 
makes possible. 

A Statistical Study of the Junior High School from the Point 

of View of Enrollment. School Review, 26: 233-45, April, 1918. 

A study made in Grand Rapids to show that the junior high school is a 
positive factor in the matter of retaining pupils in school. 

The Junior High School. Vocational Education, 3: 30-39, 



September, 1913. 
A discussion of the junior high school with special reference to the 



S46 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

school in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Shows the range of possibilities of 
the junior high school; cites the work that is being done in Grand Rapids 
and tells what he considers an ideal system to be. 

Study, H. P. Preliminary Steps in Organizing a Junior High 
School. Educational Administration and Supervision^ 3 : 339-42, 
June, 1917. 

Obligations of the superintendent, school board, and teachers. 

Trenton. New Junior High School at Trenton. Education Bui' 
letin, 3: 9-12, December, 1916. 

Size of lot, buildings, capacity of plant, length of day, faculty, general 
scheme of academic work, subjects, academic aims, the spirit of the school 
at Trenton, New Jersey. 

Vermont. State Board of Education. Vermont Junior High 
School; Suggestions for Teachers. Clyde M. Hill, Supervisor of 
Junior High Schools. Montpelier, Capital City Press, 1918. 
176 pp. illus. 8. (Bulletin no. 1, 1918.) 

Aims of junior high school in Vermont; curricula outlined for four dif- 
ferent sizes of communities; system of grading and reports used; each 
group of subjects treated separately as to methods, content, materials, 
etc.; good suggestions for junior-high-school assemblies and social life. 

Weet, Herbert S. First Step in Establishing the Six-Three-Three 
Organization. In Proceedings, National Education Association., 
1916, pp. 1036-42. Also in American Education, 19: 524-33, 
May, 1916, and in Educational Administration and Supervision, 
2: 433-47, September, 1916. 

Description of Rochester's first attempt at a six-three-three organiza- 
tion, with reasons and justification for the move; results of one year's 
trial; exposition of work given; how teacher problem was solved; ad- 
ministrative organization of school. 

A Junior High School. School Review, 24: 142-51, February, 

1915. 

Junior high school at Rochester, New York. Deals chiefly with prob- 
lems met in introducing the junior high school at Rochester. 

Westcott, R. W. a Junior-High-School Catechism. Journal of 
Education, 90:535-37. 

Questionnaire returns from 108 cities claiming junior high schools; 
52 items considered. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 347 

Wetzel, William A. The Junior High School and Prevocational 
Education. Bulletin no. 24, Proceedings of the Tenth Annual 
Meeting, February, 1917, of the National Society for the Pro- 
motion of Industrial Education. 

Causes for reorganization at Trenton and exposition of industrial 
work there. 

The Junior High School (Trenton, New Jersey). 1914. 30 



pp. (New Jersey Council of Education, Document no. 39.) 

Whipple, G. M. Physiology and Hygiene of Adolescence. In 
Principles of Secondary Education, edited by Paul Monroe. New 
York, The Macmillan Company, 1914, pp. 246-312. 

Summary of the characteristics of adolescence, many of which are 
important for administrators and teachers reorganizing the work of the 
intermediate grades. 

Whitney, F. L. The Junior High School, Grafton, North Dakota. 
American School Board Journal, 47:30-31, October, 1913. 
An expository article. 

The Junior-High-School Idea in the Small Town. Ameri- 



can School Board Journal, 48: 11-12, March, 1914. 

Shows how intermediate grades may be organized departmentally 
so as to lead to a junior high school; charts of retardation; curricula. 

Wilson, G. M. Elimination of Obsolete and Useless Topics and 
Material from the Common Branches. Report of a Committee 
of the Iowa State Teachers Association, November, 1915. 

Specific recommendations of what shall be eliminated and what in- 
cluded in arithmetic, language and grammar, writing, geography, physi- 
ology and hygiene, American history, and spelling. 

WiNSHiP, A. E. The Junior High School. Journal of Education, 
83: 91-92, January 27, 1916. 

The junior high school as a transitional institution from elementary to 
secondary education. 

Wisconsin. Department of Public Instruction. The Junior 
High School and its Future in Wisconsin. In its " The State 
and the Public Schools. Two Years' Progress in Education in 
Wisconsin." Biennial Report, 1916-18. Madison, Wisconsin, 
1919, pp. 23-29. 



348 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Wisconsin City Supebintendents' Association. Report of 
Committee on the Reorganization of the Public-School System 
on a Six-Six Plan. Issued by C. P. Cary, State Superintend- 
ent. Madison, Wisconsin, Democrat Printing Company, State 
Printer, 1914. 11 pp. 8. Bibliography, pp. 10-11. 

Contains recommendations with supporting arguments that a six- 
year secondary-school system be developed and that a division of the six- 
year system into the junior high school of three years and the senior 
high school of three years be made. 



INDEX 



Academic success, 311-19. 
Acceleration, 284. 
Adjustment of pupils, 112. 
Administration, 238-44. 
Administrative advantages, 66-68. 
Admission to senior high school, 

114 ff. 
Adolescence, 4-5, 245 S. 
Advanced credit, 117, 310. 
Advisers, 253-55. 
Affiliations of junior high schools, 

96, 97 ff., 271-73. 
Articulation of elementary and high 

schools, 12. 
Assembly halls, 274. 
Attendance, 303-11. 

Batavia teacher, 142. 
Boys, per cent of , 64. 
Buildings, 79, 269-78, 296-97. 

Classes, size of, 242-44. 
Classification of pupils, 147-50, 174 ff. 
Comparative education, 5. 
Conception, 25-46. 
Continuity in curricula, 160-62. 
Cost, 9, 84-85, 273-74, 281-302. 
Courses of study, 167 ff., 191 ff. 
Credit for outside work, 118-19, 144- 

45. 
Criticism of public schools, 1-20, 
Curricula, 137-39, 155-99. 

Dates of establishment, 32-33. 
Day, length of, 145, 238-42. 
Definitions, 46-56. 
Democracy, 22, 25, 85-90, 92. 
Departmental teaching, 80-82, 110, 

127-33. 
Differentiated curricula, 137-39, 

175 ff. 
Discipline, 112, 246-48. 
Distance for pupils to travel, 270-71. 



Distribution of grades, 93-96; of 
pupils, 304. 

Economy of time, 36-41, 71-72. 
Effect on elementary schools, 97-100. 
Elections of curricula, 195 ff. 
Elective subjects, 189 ff. 
Elementary school, length, 22-24; 

purposes, 20-22. 
Elimination, 284, 303-11. 
Enrollment, 63-64, 303-11. 
Ettinger plan, 263-64. 
Examinations for promotion, 115. 
Exploration, 41-46, 160-61, 165 ff.; 

263-64. 
Extent of the junior high school 

movement, 56-64. 

Facilitation of reform, 69. 

Floor space, distribution of, 277-78. 

Foreign languages, 314-19. 

Gap between elementary and high 
school, 18-19, 71-72, 82, 113. 

Graduation, 115-16, 175. 

Grounds, 269-78. 

Guidance, 19-20, 253-69; educa- 
tional, 256-59; vocational, 259-69. 

Gymnasium, 275. 

Historical development, 1-2, 5-6, 29. 
Home study, 206-07. 
Homogeneous grouping of pupils, 

147-50, 257-58. 
Housing, 271-73. 

Immediate needs, 163-65. 
Individual differences, 16-17, 42, 70, 

90-92, 101 ff., 133-52. 
Industrial work, 37-39, 45, 171-74, 

190-91. 
Integration, 21-23, 85 ff., 162-63. 
Interest, 319-21. 



350 



INDEX 



Intermediate school. Cf. Junior high 

school; name, 47. 
Irregular pupils, classification of, 

116-17. 

Laboratories, 276. 
Laws, 74-77, 325-26. 
Leaders' club, 250. 
Length of school day, 145. 
Library work, 41. 
Life-career classes, 263 S. 
Lunch-rooms, 275-76. 

Methods of teaching, 15-16, 69, 109, 

121 ff., 149, 200-09. 
Minimum essentials, 146-47. 

Number of subjects, 143-44. 

Obstacles, 325-26. 

Opposition, 79-80. 

Organization, 7-9, 29-30, 66-68, 93- 
126. 

Over-aged pupils. Cf. Retarded pu- 
pils. 

Period, length of, 238-42. 
Persistence of pupils, 71-72, 303-11; 

of studies, 314-19. 
Placement, 269. 
Prevocational work, 263-64. 
Project teaching, 109-10, 207-08. 
Promotion, 100, 114 ff., 139-41, 152- 

64; per vim, 42, 91, 101 ff., 140-41. 
Purposes of education, 24-25, 157- 

62 ; elementary, 20-22 ; junior high 

school, 24-26, 162 ff. 

Recitations, number each week, 238- 
42. 

Relations to elementary schools, 97- 
113; to senior high schools, 113-26; 
250-51. 

Reorganization, causes of, 33-35; fa- 
cilitation, 68. 

Results, 6-7, 303-21. 

Retarded pupils, 42, 90-92, 101 ff., 
138, 176-77. 



Retention, 71-72, 303-11. 
Revealing courses, 169-74. 
Reviews, 10-11. 
Rural schools, 323-26. 

Salaries, 233-37. 

Segregation, 5, 82-84. 

Self-government, 248-53. 

Senior high school, admission to, 115; 

effect on, 120. 
Sex differences, 5, 16-17. 
Sex segregation, 5, 111, 150-52. 
Shops, 276-77. 
Size, of classes, 242-44; of schools, 

62-64. 
Smith-Hughes Act, 326. 
Social control, 110-11, 245-69. 
Socialized recitation, 207-08. 
Study, home, 206-07; supervised, 

203-06. 
Subject-matter, 27, 119-20. 
Supervised study, 203-06. 
Supervision, 121-22. 
Surveys, 322. 
Symbolic work, 11-12. 

Teachers, 69, 78-79, 210 ff.; elemen- 
tary, 211-13; experience, 231 ff.; 
preparation, 123-26, 226 ff . ; sala- 
ries, 233-37; sex, 14-15, 222-25; 
sources, 220-22; special training, 
228-31; standards, 214-20; state 
requirements, 213-14. 

Textbooks, 77-78, 208-09. 

Trade training, 37-39, 45. 

Transfer, 10. 

Transition, 71-72. 

Try-out courses. Cf. Exploration. 

Tutoring, 141-43. 

Ungraded rooms, 150. 

Variety in curricula, 159-60. 

Vocational guidance, 259-69; bibli- 
ography, 266; vocational training, 
37-39, 45. 

Week, length of, 238-42. 



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Aldrich's Marjorie Daw and Other Stories. No. 265. 
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BuRRouGHs's The Wit of a Duck, and Other Papers. No. 259. 
IR ving's Tales from the Alhambra. Adapted by Josephine Brower. 
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Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know. Part I, 

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Muir's The Boyhood of a Naturalist. No. 247. 
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WiGGiN s Rebecca of Sunny brook Farm. No. 264. 

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Boswell's The Life of Johnson. Abridged. No. 248. 

EuRRouGHs's Nature Near Home, and Other Papers. No. 270. 

Clarke's A Treasury of War Poetry. No. 262. 

Keller's The Story of My Life. No. 253. 

Liberty, Peace, and Justice. (Documents and Addresses, 1776- 
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Mills's Being Good to Bears. No. 271. 

Palmer's Self-Cultivation in English. No. 249. 

Peabody's The Piper. No. 263. 

RiCHARDs's High Tide. An Anthology. No. 256. 

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Drinkwater's Abraham Lincoln. A Play. No. 268, 
Howells's a Modern Instance. No. 252. 
Lockwood's English Sonnets. No. 244. 
Rittenhouse's The Little Book of American Poets. No. 255. 
Rittenhouse's The Little Book of Modern Verse. No. 254. 
Rittenhouse's Second Book of Modern Verse. No. 267. 
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1954 



TEXTBOOKS IN CITIZENSHIP 

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS IN THE UNITE!? 
STATES. Problems of American Democracy. A 

Textbook for Secondary Schools. 

By William B. Guitteau, Ph.D., formerly Superintendent of 
Schools, Toledo, Ohio. With lUus. and Diagrams. Crown 8vo. 

This book fully covers the requirements of modem 
high schools in regard to the teaching of Civics. It gives an 
adequate knowledge of the various forms of government, 
local, state, and national, emphasizing, however, the prac- 
tical activities in which students are most interested, and 
the jM'oblems with which as citizens they will be most con- 
cerned. Questions at the end of each chapter give local 
applications of principles discussed in the text. 

PREPARING FOR CITIZENSHIP. An Elemmiury 

Textbook in Civics. 
'S By William Backus Guitteau, Ph.D. 

This is an admirable textbook for the upper grammar 
grades, and for the first year of the high school. It gives in 
simple language a VCTy clear explanation of how and why 
governments are formed, what government does for the 
citizen, and what the citizen owes to his government. All 
necessary facts regarding local, state, and national govern- 
ment are given, with the main emphasis upon the practical 
aspects of government. The book concludes with an inspir- 
ing expression of our national ideals of self-reliance, equality 
of opportunity, education for all, and the promotion erf 
international peace. Each chapter is accompanied by 
questions and exercises which will stimulate investigation 
on the part of pupils into thie organization and functiona 
of local government. 

AMERICANIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP. 

By Hanson Hart Websteb. 

Important and distinctive features of this book are:— 

(1) the catechism upon the United States Constitution? 

(2) the statement of the principles underlying our govern- 
saent; (3) the explanation of the duties and privileges of 
citizens. It is recommended as a valuable handbook in^ 
9Xi Americans, both native and foreign-born. 



HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 



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